SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

As incentives remained relatively flat in June, possibly seeing slight declines, some OEMs notched their highest average transaction prices for the second consecutive month. 

Both Toyota and Honda recorded unusually high transaction rates for this past month.

According to TrueCar.com, Toyota enjoyed an 8 percent year-over-year rise and a 0.4-percent rise from May of this year, coming in with an average transaction price of $27,910. For Honda, the Japanese nameplate’s average transaction price rose 5 percent year-over-year and 0.3 percent from May, coming in at $27,055.

And many manufacturers were experiencing a similar trend; in fact, Ford and General Motors were the only major OEMs to see transaction prices fall this month, sliding 2 percent and 3 percent year-over-year, respectively.

And according to TrueCar.com, analysts estimated that the average transaction price for light vehicles in the United States was $30,508 in June 2012, up $849 (2.9 percent) from June 2011 and up $148 (0.5 percent) from May 2012.

"Despite the relative slowdown in the last two months, the auto industry continues to experience improved profitability with strong year-over-year sales, historically high transaction prices and precise incentives spending," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of market intelligence for TrueCar.com.

As for incentives, the facts paint a different picture.

TrueCar.com estimated that the average incentive for light-vehicles was $2,432 in June 2012, up $36 (1.5 percent) from June 2011 and down $124 (4.8 percent) from May 2012.

Moreover, the company estimated that the ratio of incentives to average transaction price for light-vehicles was 8.0 percent in June 2012, down from 8.1 percent in June 2011 and down from 8.4 percent in May 2012.

Offering another take, Edmunds.com contends that automaker incentives remained a bit more stable in June, though still remain low.

According to Edmunds.com’s True Cost of Incentives, the auto industry spent $2,187 per vehicle this month, down 1.6 percent from May, and down 0.8 percent from June 2011.

And according to both companies’ predictions, Toyota topped the list for the highest year-over-year decline in incentives.

TrueCar.com predicted that the autoamkers saw a 10.2-percent drop-off from May, while Edmunds.com reported a 10.3-percent slip.

“If you waited to buy a new car this month, it would have been very difficult to find better deals than you could have found in May,” says Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell.

“But as more 2013 model-year vehicles hit dealer lots this summer, car buyers can start to expect better deals on the 2012 models that needed to be cleared out,” she concluded.

The companies also offered the following charts illustrating predictions on incentives and transaction prices for June:

  From Edmunds.com:

Manufacturer Jun-12 May-12 Jun-11 June 2012 vs May 2012 June 2012 vs June 2011
Chrysler $2,579 $2,614 $2,601 -1.3% -0.8%
Ford $2,626 $2,614 $2,707 0.0% -3.0%
GM $3,282 $3,441 $2,951 -4.6% 11.2%
Honda $1,395 $1,425 $1,154 -2.1% 20.9%
Nissan $2,383 $2,462 $2,033 -3.2% 17.2%
Toyota $1,552 $1,589 $1,731 -2.3% -10.3%
Industry $2,187 $2,222 $2,204 -1.6% -0.8%

 

 From TrueCar.com: