CARY, N.C. -

The recovery in pre-owned sales continued in July, with Cox Automotive’s 13-month rolling used-vehicle SAAR climbing from 36 million in June to 38 million last month.

The company estimates in a Data Point report released Thursday that there was a 4% year-over-year decline in used-vehicle sales for July and that the month’s SAAR fell from the 39.7 million rate in July 2019.

However, the used-vehicle SAAR has been moving upward on a month-over-month pattern since hitting a trough in April, the Cox Automotive data shows.

In what Cox considers to be a retail sale (dealer-only sales, no private party), the used SAAR was an estimated 20.4 million in July, compared to 18.9 million in June and 20.8 million in July 2019. That, too, has climbed month-over-month since April.

And some more recent analysis, J.D. Power found that for the week ending this past Sunday, franchised dealer used-vehicle sales were 3% stronger than pre-pandemic forecasts.

"The result reflected a small improvement after four weeks of slowing performance vs. our pre-virus forecast," J.D. Power said in a Used Market Update.

In an analysis early last month, Edmunds discussed how many would-be new-car shoppers were leaning towards used. 

"More consumers are looking for value in their next car purchase due to the economic challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, so the more favorable loan conditions we're seeing are likely a direct result of more consumers with good credit shifting into the used market," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' executive director of insights, in a news release. "Thanks to a shortage of new-vehicle inventory, more automakers and dealers have leaned into promoting attractive certified pre-owned programs, which might be driving more typical new-car shoppers into the used market."