How used-car sales closed the year
It doesn’t appear the used-car retail market closed 2022 on a particularly high note.
According to a forecast released Thursday by TrueCar, December was expected to wrap up with less than 2.5 million used-car sales.
That would be a 10% year-over-year decline and a 7% month-over-month dip, TrueCar said.
As for what could be in store for 2023, Cox Automotive said in a list of 10 predictions for the year that used-car sales are likely to soften further.
“A lack of nearly new supply, declining affordability, and a shrinking pool of buyers will challenge the used-vehicle market,” Cox said in a December news release. “Overall retail sales will decline in 2023, adding competitive pressures to the market, especially in used.”
Within the certified pre-owned segment of used, Cox was calling for 2.45 million certified sales for full-year 2022 (as of December) which would be 11% softer than 2021.
“Current year-to-date CPO sales hit 2.24 million at November’s end. To match or exceed our call of 2.4 million, CPO sales would have to be 160,000 or more,” senior manager of economic and industry insights Chris Frey said in a December report.
“The last time they were at or below this level was in the March to April 2020 selling period,” Frey said. “Given the sales pace this year and barring any major impacts from interest rates or other unforeseen events, we should hit our target — and then some.”