Black Book reported that the wholesale market sales rate now is estimated to be at the lowest level since the beginning of the year.

And TrueCar is expecting another slowdown of used-vehicle retail sales, too.

On Tuesday, TrueCar projected that used-vehicle sales for August would be down 17% from a year ago, marking the second consecutive month that analysts foretold a year-over-year decline that robust.

However, if TrueCar’s forecast of 3 million used-vehicle retail sales in August comes to be, it would represent a 4% lift from July.

TrueCar’s latest used-vehicle analysis also mentioned that the average financing for used vehicles delivered in August would include an interest rate of 8.7% with the contract term lasting about 71 months.

Meanwhile, TrueCar thinks the new-vehicle market might be “turning the corner.”

TrueCar is expecting total new-vehicle industry sales to reach 1,152,846 units in August, up 9% from a year ago and slightly up from July 2022, when adjusted for the same number of selling days.

TrueCar indicated August’s seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total light vehicle industry sales is an estimated 13 million, down 14% year-over-year.

Excluding fleet sales, TrueCar expects U.S. retail deliveries of new cars and light trucks in August to be 1,015,575 units, up 6% from a year ago and up about 3% from July.

“August is shaping up to confirm our early predictions that the industry may be turning the corner,” TrueCar industry analyst Zack Krelle said in a news release. “We’re seeing consecutive month-over-month increases for incentives, while average transaction prices are softening. Inventory is also slowly growing, and sales are improving slightly.”

Over at Cox Automotive, analysts there aren’t quite so bullish about what might happen when franchised dealers finish their sales activities for the month on Wednesday.

According to the Cox Automotive forecast, U.S. new-vehicle sales in August are expected to show that the substantially slower pace of new-vehicle sales that started a year ago continues as new-vehicle supply remains virtually unchanged.

Analysts indicate the August U.S. auto sales pace, or seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), is expected to finish flat month-over-month at 13.3 million, up from last year’s 13.1 million level.

Cox Automotive projected the sales volume in August is forecast to finish near 1.14 million units, up 3.6% from last year but down 0.3% from July. With 26 selling days in August — the same as last month and one more than last year — Cox Automotive noted the year-over-year gain in volume is expected to be lifted by the extra day.

“New-vehicle inventory remains essentially unchanged since tight inventory started severely limiting sales in July 2021,” Cox Automotive senior economist Charlie Chesbrough said in another news release. “The headwinds to a sales recovery this year are growing as buying conditions worsen. Rising interest rates and historically low consumer sentiment are keeping many potential buyers out of the new-vehicle market. And high prices for both gasoline and vehicles are making affordability an even greater challenge.

“However, the lack of supply is the biggest obstacle over the near term, and there is little evidence of new-vehicle supply returning to a healthier level,” Chesbrough added.

Over at J.D. Power, analysts there compiled a forecast with similar tones to what Cox Automotive assembled.

According to a joint forecast from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive, retail sales of new vehicles this month are expected to reach 980,400 units, a 2.6% decrease compared with August of last year.

J.D. Power and LMC Automotive added that when comparing the same sales volume without adjusting for the number of selling days, the August projection translates to an increase of 1.3% from a year ago.

Thomas King, who is president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power, offered these perspective through another news release.

“Traditionally, August is a high-volume sales month as manufacturers launch marketing actions to clear out the last model-year vehicles and start sales of the new model-year products. This August, the industry is still constrained by insufficient inventory to meet robust consumer demand. The result is a retail sales pace that fails to fulfill its potential. However, the silver lining for retailers — and manufacturers—is that transaction prices and profits are continuing to reach record levels even in the face of rising interest rates,” King said.

“August is on track to be the 10th consecutive month that retail inventory closes below 900,000 units.  A significant portion of vehicles are still being sold before they arrive at the dealership. This month, 55% of vehicles will be sold within 10 days of arriving at a dealership, while the average number of days a new vehicle is in a dealer’s possession before being sold is on pace to be 20 days — down from 25 days a year ago,” he continued.

“For August, new-vehicle prices continue to set records, with the average transaction price expected to reach $46,259 — an 11.5% increase from a year ago and the highest on record. Therefore, even though the sales pace is down 2.6% year over year, buyers will still spend nearly $45.4 billion on new vehicles this month, the second-highest level ever for the month of August and up 13.0% from August 2021,” King went on to say.