WASHINGTON, D.C. -

While the San Francisco region has experienced a “robust” used-car environment recently, the other two Federal Reserve Districts reporting used-vehicle trends in the latest Beige Book analysis fared differently.

In the latest reporting period, dealers in the New York and Cleveland districts have seen “flat” used-vehicle sales, according to the Federal Reserve.

“Sales of used vehicles were mixed, with San Francisco describing them as robust but New York and Cleveland characterizing them as flat,” the Fed noted in Wednesday’s report.

The Beige Book report follows last week’s findings from CNW Research indicating an overall used-car market that was nearly 9-percent stronger year-over-year in September.

Including private-party sales as well as used-car sales from franchised and independent dealers, CNW said there were 3.81 million used units sold last month.

More on San Francisco

The Twelfth Federal Reserve District (San Francisco) includes nine Western states, as well as the American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Interestingly enough, one of those nine states — California — was found to have been the most highly concentrated area of online used-car shoppers from January to June of this year, according to a study from Jumpstart Automotive Media.

The study, conducted by Jumpstart’s Strategic Insights department, looked at car-shopper traffic trends across the 14 auto websites in Jumpstart’s network.

As far as what the Fed has spotted recently in this Western region, the latest Beige Book report indicated used-car demand in the San Francisco region “remained robust.”

In its Aug. 29 report, the Fed had noted that used vehicles had been “in short supply, raising their trade-in values and helping to spur sales of new vehicles.” 

New York & Cleveland

In looking at the two other districts sharing used-vehicle trends in Wednesday's report, the Fed said that for the New York region, “Sales of used cars have been mixed since the last report, while dealers’ service departments note some slowing in business.”

Officials added: “Wholesale and retail credit conditions remain favorable.”

As for Cleveland, the Fed noted: “Used-vehicle sales were flat, which was attributed primarily to a lack of inventory.”