ATLANTA and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

The solid first-quarter gains in same-store used unit sales reported by AutoNation on Thursday and similar results shared by CarMax last week could be a harbinger of additional positive news on the used-car side from other retailers in coming weeks, says Manheim’s Tom Webb.

CarMax reported a 6-percent uptick in comparable store used unit sales in the fiscal quarter ending Feb. 28.

Similarly, in calendar Q1, AutoNation increased its same-store used unit sales by 6.7 percent year-over-year, moving
49,201 units, the dealer group said.

“Although gross margins continued to show their long-term drift down, efficiencies led to record profits,” Webb wrote in the latest Auto Industry Brief from Manheim Consulting.

“We expect that, when the other publicly traded dealership groups report first-quarter earnings later this month, they too will show strong used-vehicle operations.”

As for the used-car results that have already been reported, conditions seem fairly positive.

AutoNation’s used-car revenue for the first quarter came in a shade above $1 billion, up from $918.8 million in Q1 2012. Overall used retail sales climbed 9.5 percent at 50,505 units.

Total revenue for the dealer group climbed from $3.7 billion to $4.1 billion, with gains across the board. Operating income jumped from $148.7 million to $169.4 million, while net income improved from $73.0 million to $83.0 million.

AutoNation reported that earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.68 represented an all-time high.

Going back to the overall industry’s used sales performance, Webb cited CNW Research data indicating a 12-percent gain in dealers’ used-vehicle sales for both March and the first quarter.

“Although some of these sales were 'forced' in the sense that trade-ins and end-of-term fleet units basically require a subsequent retail sale, the retail market was also clearly helped by the fundamentals of rising employment and free-flowing credit,” he noted.

Last week, Webb took a deep look at the used retail market during Manheim's quarterly conference call. Included in the analysis was his thought that “quite easy and quite logical to assume” there will be record used retail sales before 2015. More on that can be found here.

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.