CARY, N.C. -

If other commercial consignors are experiencing similar lease return trends as what Manheim chief economist observed about Ford Credit in the company’s latest fixed income call, there may be some good news on the used-car supply front.

The company’s lease return volume reached 27,000 units in the second quarter, compared to 15,000 in the same period a year ago, as shown here in Ford Credit data posted to Webb’s blog.

That is a 44.4-percent year-over-year jump.

Ford Credit lease returns were at 14,000 vehicles in both the third and fourth quarters of 2012, before jumping to 26,000 units in the opening quarter of this year.

To read the full blog post from Webb, visit this link:
http://manheimconsulting.typepad.com/manheim-consulting/2013/07/ford-credit-repos-down-lease-returns-up.html

Over at Toyota, Robert Larson — the retail sales and operations manager for the company’s TCUV/TRAC programs — shared just how pivotal the off-lease channel is to success in the certified pre-owned market.

The Toyota CPO program moved 184,951 units in the first half of the year, which is a 12.8-percent year-over-year increase and puts the brand on a record pace. Larson attributes part of that success to lease return volume.

“We are having a record year in TCUV sales as a result of strong dealer engagement and fantastic availability due to the large number of lease maturities this year,” he said.

It’s plausible, if not likely, that other automakers are experiencing the same phenomena this year, as the certified industry barrels toward a third consecutive year of record sales, as statistics from Autodata Corp. suggest.

Edmunds.com projected last year — as readers may recall — that the number of lease returns for full-year 2013 was likely to climb by nearly half-a-million units year-over-year. Edmunds was forecasting more than 2.5 million leases to reach end-of-term in 2013, which would be the highest number of lease terminations since 2010

Edmunds confirmed this month that it is still holding that projection, and its chief statistician, Ray Zhou, added: “The increased lease return will add some pressure on used-vehicle prices and help both new- and used-vehicle sales.”
 

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.