CARY, N.C. -
Look for used-car sales this month remain steady with June numbers, but fall 4% from July 2020. That’s according to the latest forecast from TrueCar, which projects 3.7 million used sales for July. 
 
TrueCar is expecting 1.29 million new-vehicle sales this month, which would beat year-ago figures by 1% but land 8% lower month-over-month (when adjusted for selling days).
 
Retail new-car sales are likely to come in at 1.17 million this month, steady on a year-over-year basis and down 7% month-over-month.
 
“Increasing pressure on new-car inventory continues to drive the car-buying landscape in July,” TrueCar lead industry analyst Nick Woolard said in a news release.
“Lower inventory is likely creating a drag on sales and driving up transaction prices. 
 
“It is also leading to more would-be new car buyers opting for used cars, which in turn is contributing to the surge in used-car prices,” he said.
 
Last week, Cox Automotive released a Data Point analysis dissecting how the used-car market performed in June. It estimated there were 3.2 million total used-car sales in June, a 12% decrease. 
 
The SAAR for total used-car sales was an estimated 39.0 million last month, compared to 43.6 million a year earlier, Cox said. In May, it was 40.0 million.
 
In what Cox has termed used retail sales (those sold from a dealer), it found there were 1.7 million last month, versus 1.9 million in June 2020. In May of this year, there were 1.8 million. 
 
Cox estimates the used retail SAAR at 21.3 million for June, compared to 23.1 million a year ago.