Forget basketball. This year’s March madness was all about used-car sales, and the certified pre-owned segment was not to be outdone by used-vehicle sales, which, as we reported last week, topped three million units for the first time since 2002.
CPO sales volume had its best-ever month in March, moving 190,065 units to close out the market’s best-ever quarter. Last month saw a 9% year-over-year gain from March 2012, which had been the previous record high — and the first time CPO sales surpassed 190,000 vehicles, according to Autodata. Total CPO sales for the quarter were 497,647 units, a 9.4% increase from 1Q12.
Additionally, Autodata discovered that many brands also posted record-breaking CPO sales:
It’s still the more profitable decision if you can work through a slow payer (i.e.-not lose half the principal) providing the lender isn’t just avoiding recognizing the loss of course. It will be interesting to see if lenders start loosening LTVs under the faulty expectation that used vehicle values will stay high.
This story reminds me of what business strategist Tom Peters first said in the 80s. “The best companies adopt this savvy business strategy….”they sell things to that segment of the market that likes things that work”. Offering a guarantee that a product will work “like new” was genius. And simple too.