Used vehicle sales were up slightly year over year in June.
An estimated 3 million units were sold last month, a 2.8 percent increase from June 2022, according to Cox Automotive.
The uptick put the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 36.7 million, a spike from May’s 34.1 million.
Cox Automotive’s second quarter forecast estimated 35.7 million sales for the year, which was 2 percent behind 2022.
Chart by Cox Automotive
“It looks like there is some hidden strength in the used market this year, even though year-to-date sales are tracking below 2022 at the moment,” said Chris Frey, senior manager of Economic and Industry Insights at Cox Automotive. “The triple whammy remains – high prices, high interest rates, and lower-than-usual supply – but the market keeps chugging along. While sales stalled a bit after mid-February compared to 2022, at mid-year, things are not getting worse. Typically, we slow from here through year-end, and so far, that looks to be the case.”
Retail used sales were also ahead of June 2022 by 3.3 percent. The annual pace is at 19.4 million for retail sales. In May it was at 18.1 million.
Recent analysis by Cox of its vAuto Available Inventory data estimated 2.22 million total unsold used vehicles at the end of June at franchised and independent lots across the nation. That figure is up from May’s 2.12 million. It was down from June 2022 by almost 10 percent, 241,000 vehicles.
The days of supply stood at 47.
“The last several months have followed very closely to 2019’s levels, the last normal year we’ve seen,” Frey said. “So it is worth noting that days’ supply is fairly normal for this time of year, which is something we haven’t seen for three years. Dealers are balancing their inventory to the sales rate, keeping days’ supply steady, even as total supply continues to improve.”
The average listing price of vehicles was $27,147, down from May’s $27,720. The average mileage was at 71,431.
