After 14 consecutive months of growth, sales for certified pre-owned vehicles dropped 1% in August year-over-year, according to sales data compiled by Autodata Corp. and released last week.
The drop is mostly due to “scheduling,” while year-to-date numbers still surpass the prior year by about 10%, said Joseph Derkos, director of consulting and analytics at J.D. Power and Associates.
“Labor Day weekend is the biggest selling season, and it usually falls in the end of August,” Derkos told AFN. “That’s why August closing numbers are weaker than what we typically see.”
Higher new-vehicle incentives are also pressuring CPO sales, he said, but the CPO market is “very, very healthy” still. “CPO numbers have gone up tremendously every month but August this year, way ahead of last year,” he said. “Next year, we expect 800,000 more leases to come back, which is great for CPOs.”
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