U.S. auto sales in June declined for the second straight month, and the retail seasonally adjusted annual rate dipped below 10 million units. No doubt that some of it was due to inventory shortages at Japanese makers, but new research shows that with an average new vehicle transaction price now above $30,000 potential customers are buying used.
About 8% of the people who bought a used vehicle in June were trying to decide between purchasing a new or used car and elected for the older one. This means that approximately 360,000 new-vehicle sales went to older vehicles, according to CNW research. That’s two final assembly plants worth, and it doesn’t include supporting component parts plants at a time when unemployment is officially more than 9%.
Franchised dealers saw used sales increase 5% versus a year ago and 10% compared to this May. Authorized dealers control more than 36% of what is projected to be a total used vehicle market of around 37 million vehicles. This is three times the size of the predicted new vehicle market in 2011. Independent used car dealers have about 33% of the market with private transactions making up the balance.
