BANDON, Ore. — As of August, the share of used-vehicle sales to consumers with FICO scores under 619 apparently rose to the highest level since March 2008.

However, on the new-car side, buyers with a FICO below 619 have risen only incrementally, according to Art Spinella, president of CNW Research.

He characterizes the improvement as "subprime staging a weak comeback."

In essence, he said, "This year may see about 900,000 subprime new sales compared to 2.1 million in 2007 (on the new side)."

Looking at August's new-car sales of 997,000, less than 9 percent were to subprime buyers, CNW discovered. This compares to more than 14 percent in January 2007 and only 2.49 percent in December 2008.

"That translates into about 88,000 unit sales in August 2010, or more than 100,000 fewer per month than in calendar year 2007," Spinella pointed out.

Meanwhile, on the used-car side, he said August's subprime volume of 794,000 will likely equate to about 6.1 million total subprime sales this year.

"That compares to 14.4 million in 2007," Spinella highlighted.

Continuing on, CNW found that the demand for subprime auto financing remains "extraordinarily high."

"Those being approved represent barely a third of the used-car shoppers looking for a car or truck and who have a subprime score," the CNW president explained.

"While even in the best of times for subprime buyers not everyone was able to get a loan, the current one-third figure is significantly reversed from the 2007 statistics. That is, two-thirds of subprime prospects were able to get a car financed three years ago for a used vehicle," he said.

"Among new-car intenders, almost 80 percent of subprime shoppers were receiving financing in 2007. Today, that figure is less than 40 percent," he added.

Used-Car Leasing Continues to Drop

Reviewing another trend, CNW said that while new-car leases have been climbing, the used-lease market has been contracting.

"In August, for example, used leases fell by more than 22 percent, marking the third straight month of trailing the same month of 2009," Spinella said. "Cap costs for used leases have also fallen behind year ago in the past few months, down 6.6 percent in August (2010) versus August 2009. Actual contractual cap costs have slid from $38,700 in January to $35,900 in August."