If they’re not already, dealers may soon have a harder time getting used-car inventory than they did in late summer

That’s according to the ZeroSum Market First Report, which is projecting that available pre-owned inventory at the end of September will be 1.15% lower than it was at the beginning of August.

Data from ZeroSum, which specializes in software, marketing and data, indicates there were 1.672 million units of used-vehicle inventory as of Sunday.

That’s down from 1.687 million in August. The company is expecting that figure to decline to 1,667,967 by the end of September — which is Friday.

“Dealers should continue to turn the used inventory they do have as quickly as possible to hit sales targets,” ZeroSum said in this report.

While on the lower end of 2022, those numbers are still stronger than the end of 2021, when inventory fell to 1.583 million units in December, according to the ZeroSum data.

Looking at another data set, Black Book said in its weekly Market Insights report that the volume of active used-car retail listings was steady last week, following a string of increases.

On the wholesale side, Black Book observed lower inventory levels in the auction lanes last week, “particularly for those sellers that heavily rely on direct purchase from consumers,” it said.

“Inventory was on the lower end last week, which could possibly be why there were not as many If sales as we have seen in the past and why sellers are not wanting to negotiate,” the company later added in the report.

A Cox Automotive analysis from last week had another take on the state of used-car supply.

Charts from the company’s Manheim Market Insights series video report indicate that available used retail supply is between 2.4 million and 2.6 million units, with available wholesale supply between 100,000 and 150,000 units.

Kevin Chartier, vice president of Manheim Market Insights, said during the video that as of mid-September, there was 48 days supply of retail used vehicles, which is a “normal” level and typical for this time of year.

Meanwhile, wholesale supply has climbed modestly since the start of 2022, but remains more than 40% softer than where it was during pre-COVID September 2019, Chartier said.

“With retail used supply back in the normal range, and spreads between retail and wholesale prices expanding, we expect wholesale prices declines to begin moderating in the fourth quarter, and are likely to follow a more typical fall seasonal pattern,” he said.