CARY, N.C. -

The supply of used cars on dealer lot appears to be making some progress, according to the latest CarGurus Vehicle Availability Index & Insights report.

The CarGurus Used Vehicle Availability Index for January shows a 3.9% uptick in used-car inventory at dealerships compared to December. Meantime, the year-over-year gap has slowed to 0.8%.

“The recovery in used inventory volumes is one reason we saw a recovery in 2021 used sales, while new sales volumes continue to be impacted,” Kevin Roberts, who is director of industry insights and analytics at CarGurus, said in a blog post about the index.

In its latest Market Insights report, Black Book indicated that while used-car retail listings for the week ending Saturday were down slightly from the prior week, they continue to improve from where they started 2022. 

“Used retail listing volume decreased slightly but still sits above where CY2022 began. We anticipate that used retail listings will increase in the coming weeks as dealers attempt to stock their lots,” Black Book said. 

This follows some good news on the inventory front to cap 2021.

Cox Automotive said in a Data Point report last month that used-car days’ supply for dealers was at 51 in December, beating the 45 days’ supply of used vehicles in November. It had been since mid-January 2021 that there were was more than 50 days’ supply of unsold used vehicles on dealer lots, Cox said.

And while supply has improved, there still remains a sharp increase in the listing prices of used vehicles.

In January, the average used-vehicle listing price was north of $31,000, CarGurus data shows. That represents a 39.8% uptick from January 2021, when used prices were below $23,000.

It’s even more stark a divide when you consider that for the entire first half of 2020, used listing prices were $21,000 or lower, the CarGurus data shows.

“Interestingly, the average listing price for used continues to rise even with a near-full recovery in used inventory, highlighting the continued impact on missing new inventory throughout the industry,” Roberts said.

For context, new-car inventory last month was 69.7% softer than January 2021. It was down 5% month-over-month.

In terms of turn times last month, used vehicles were moving 2.7% slower than they were in December, but 5.8% quicker than they were in January 2021, CarGurus said. The turn time was nearly 67 days last month.

The company said the month-over-month drop is likely due to seasonality.