Art Spinella
President
CNW Research
The volume was up but the value was down for retail used car sales in May. Used car dealers and private party sales were up 1.9% versus a year ago reaching 4,391,248 units sold. The value of used cars sold slipped 3.4% to $39.2 billion versus $40.56 billion last year due to lower transaction prices.
Click here to read CNW Research’s analysis of May retail used vehicle sales
Inventories of 1-to-5 Year Old Cars Improving Due to Off-Lease and Corporate Returns:
Shot up at 2 years – 2 year old up 9.6%, 3 year old up 7.9%, and 4 year old up 7.0%.
Saw 1.52% Decline in Number of Used-Vehicle Shoppers in May ’13 vs. May ’12:
But closing ratios were up 4.8% offsetting fewer “lookers.”
CNW Saw 32.6% Rise in Number of Used-Vehicles Acquired Outside of Buyer’s DMA (Marketing Area):
Price and availability of a particular make and model were the two primary reasons.
