BANDON, Ore. –

It has been six years since the used-car market saw a July as strong as the “blockbuster” sales total reached last month, according to CNW Research. But as one particular dealer can attest, challenges apparently still remain.

The firm reported Sunday that used sales for the month jumped 13.46 percent year-over-year and came in just shy of 4.5 million units.

“That’s the best July since 2005,” said CNW president Art Spinella.

However, used transaction prices were $10,193 on average, which was down modestly from the previous month.

And Robert Melton II, general manager of Melton Sales — a Chrysler Group franchise in Claremore, Okla. — said his store has experienced challenges in light of hefty wholesale prices, reconditioning costs and overwhelming summer heat. Melton Sales was steady year-over-year for July used sales.

“Our company remained pretty flat-line in July-over-July results. We ran 50 pre-owned units in July of 2010 and 54 units this year, so very nominal,” he told Auto Remarketing. “Our average profit per unit is up $321 over last year, but is actually down from proceeding months of this year on a per-unit basis.

“As with much of the country, we have been dealing with record-breaking heat (week after week over 100 degrees), and the profit per unit is decreasing due to high auction prices and increased necessary reconditioning,” continued Melton, who is also a Pre-Owned Automobile Dealers Alliance and CarMark
member.

All in all, though, it appears the used market was relatively robust in terms of sales, based on CNW’s data.

Breaking down the data, franchised dealers moved 1.67 million used units, a 17.8-percent gain from July 2010, according to CNW.

Independents had 1.65 million in used sales, a 10.7-percent hike. Private-party sales came in at 1.18 million, an 11.55-percent increase.

The used sales last month had an overall value of more than $45.8 billion, CNW reported.