Here’s the November 2013’s Retail Automotive Summary from CNW Research and President Art Spinella with an overview of used vehicle trends…..
• The US used vehicle market has been looking good with an estimated 3.09 million probable sales for a 4.1% gain. Low prices are clearly making an impression on used-car shoppers scouring dealer lots and buying less from private party sources such as through Craigslist.
• Franchised dealers did well in November, up nearly 10% versus a year ago. Large retailers such as CarMax and AutoNation have seen a very good month, but even smaller dealers have seen a windfall of shoppers.
• CNW estimates there are 112,500 used-vehicle intenders who are waiting in the wings to make an acquisition, up 11.9 percent from a year ago.
• One of the major reasons the market has been seeing strong used-car sales can be traced to prices being softer during the past few months.
• November’s Franchised dealer transaction prices fell 1.6 percent vs.October to the lowest level since January-February of this year.
• Independent dealers have seen transaction prices for November slipped about a half-percent vs. October on a mixed history for the year.
• More critical to used-car pricing are the increases seen in Days’ Supply of vehicles. CNW estimates that there will be nearly a 50 days’ supply by month’s end, and this supply increase will continue to put downward pressure on pricing.
