CARY, N.C. -

Softer comparisons for used-car sales in recent months don’t necessarily paint the full picture of the pre-owned vehicle market this year, as the seasonal adjusted annualized rate is moving full speed ahead.

Edmunds forecasts 3.4 million used-car sales in May, down from 3.5 million in April.

However, the pre-owned SAAR for the month (39.3 million) is likely to pace ahead of April’s (39.2 million).

In its Industry Update for May that was released Monday, Cox Automotive said April had approximately 2-percent fewer used-car sales than the same month a year earlier.

But that was due largely to last month having two fewer selling days than April 2017, it said in the report.

The company pinpointed April’s used-car SAAR at 39.7 million, the strongest of the year so far.

Cox Automotive said there has been a 1-percent gain in the annualized rate of pre-owned sales against 2017 numbers.

Furthermore, year-to-date certified pre-owned car sales have climbed 2 percent through April, even with a 5.7-percent year-over-year decline in last month’s sales, according to Cox Automotive.