The certified pre-owned market opened 2014 with the highest first-quarter share of franchised dealers’ used-car sales in five years.

That’s according to the latest Used Market Quarterly Report from Edmunds.com, which said CPO vehicles accounted for 19.7 percent of all used sales by franchised dealers in Q1. 

The last time the certified market made up that much of franchised dealer used activity in the first quarter was 2009.

What’s more, CPO share of franchised used was down 0.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter, but this represented the smallest Q4-to-Q1 share decline ever, Edmunds said.

Dealers sold 551,707 certified vehicles in Q1, which beat year-ago numbers by 14.2 percent.

Overall, there were 9.1 million used cars sold in the first quarter, including numbers from franchised and independent dealers as well as private-party sales.

This is down 6.7 percent year-over-year, but the entirety of that decrease is within independent sales and private-party transactions, Edmunds indicated. Franchised dealers sold 2.8 million used vehicles in the first quarter, which was an improvement of 5.7 percent from Q1 of 2013.

“As expected, there have been used sales gains at franchise dealers,” the company said in its analysis accompanying the data. “This pattern, driven by lease returns and trades, will continue through the next quarter and throughout the year.”

It added: “During this uneven economic recovery, lower income consumers are staying out of the market. This is why independent and private-party sales are down. Those with stronger purchasing power will facilitate used sales growth at franchise dealers.”

And part of that may include stronger CPO operations, as well.

Edmunds indicates that with high lease penetration rates, automakers are motivated to make a “long-term push” for certified among their dealers.