ATLANTA -

Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb is confident the used-vehicle industry will eventually surpass the all-time sales record sometime in the coming years; a feat that would require eclipsing the mark of 44.14 million units CNW Research indicated was established 10 years ago.

But a return of double-digit margins for dealers on those used-vehicle turns? Webb isn’t sure the rare heyday of margins above 11.5 percent seen back in 2009 will ever be enjoyed again.

Webb attributed part of the reason why used sales should top the all-time record is growing volumes of off-lease vehicles, which is already fueling the certified pre-owned market to sterling figures.

The latest data from the National Automobile Dealers Association shows 4.4 million used vehicles turned in June, pushing the total at the halfway point of 2015 to close to 18.6 million used sales.

While the pace would have to intensify during the second of this year to approach the record set in 2005, Webb indicated during his recent quarterly conference call that the majority of factors influencing used sales such as financing and inventory availability “are becoming better.”

The growing sales volume is helping dealerships enjoy record profits for the used operations. That’s despite margins rebounding only slightly this past quarter after bottoming out during the second half of 2014, according to Webb’s tracking of the seven publicly traded dealer groups that he says provides a barometer for how the entire industry is performing.

Going back eight years, Webb pegged the margin high at above 11.5 percent during the worst of the recession in late 2008 and early 2009. Since that time, margins for these dealer groups have drifted lower, settling at just about 9.5 percent this past quarter.

Webb cautioned that the margin peak “was very much an anomaly related to the recession and the supply of units, the volume of units being sold and holding out for gross.”

He continued with, “Rather being overly concerned about the margin compression, I would point out that when a competitive industry like auto retailing achieves greater efficiencies, and they certainly have, some of those savings are passed on to the consumer in the form of lower margins.

“But as the growth in throughput stalls and those further efficiencies seem harder and harder to achieve, it is important that we in the industry continue to look at where the pain points are and develop solutions to relieve them,” Webb added.

Webb also mentioned that while his dealer group margin data only goes back eight years, he insisted that if he had information “going back decades and decades,” the margin metric would show a long-term downward trend.

“It’s something we just have in the industry. Margins go down; they don’t really come back up,” Webb said.

“But again, that’s doable because you have great efficiencies, greater throughput overall,” he continued. “You’re still getting great F&I income. At these margins, you’re still making record profits. I would say we start might start to bottom out in terms of overall margins and they only go down further to the extent that the industry achieves even great efficiencies.”