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FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — June saw the industry's certified pre-owned sales climb year-over-year for the fourth straight month, and although the struggle among dealers to find certifiable inventory may stick around for a while, things could be getting better in the near future.

Overall, 137,773 CPO units were sold during June, which marked a 3.2-percent gain from the same period of 2009, according to Autodata Corp. Year-to-date, sales have reached 800,005 vehicles, a 1.9-percent decline from the first six months of 2009.

While many automakers enjoyed gains during June, there still exists a challenge related to finding used inventory worthy of being certified. As many can attest, the inventory shortage has been a dominating topic in the used-vehicle marketplace, and this issue certainly has been seen on the CPO side of the market.

ADESA's Tom Kontos said this issue will be around for "some time" due to the new-vehicle sales drought of 2008 and 2009, but offered a bit of good news on this the supply front when he talked with Auto Remarketing recently.

He explained that new-car sales into the rental fleet in the first half of 2010 are up almost 300,000 units compared to the same period of 2009.

"As these units come out of the rental fleet, that will ease some of the supply tightness," Kontos shared.

Not to mention, a healthier new-vehicle market likely means more certifiable used units being brought into dealerships as trade-ins.

"As new-vehicle sales start to increase, dealers will start taking more vehicles at trade, hopefully some of which are certifiable," he noted.

At Hyundai — which posted its best-ever CPO month on record in June, according to Tracy Bowes, national manager of retail operations for Hyundai Motor America — its dealers have certainly faced these inventory issues, but the most successful dealers have been those who have  maximized their resources.

"Dealers continue to express concerns about the availability of eligible used vehicles. Strong demand for new vehicles has caused a similar constraint, which continues to increase residual values, and therefore the acquisition cost of quality used vehicles," Bowes shared.

"The most successful Hyundai CPO dealers utilize all available resources to locate inventory, including their own service drives," he added. "Often, the drive is loaded with CPO eligible vehicles being driven by customers who are in an equity position that will allow them to trade into the current model with minimal impact to their monthly payment."

Specifically, Hyundai moved 1,961 CPO units during June, up 34.2 percent year-over-year. So far in 2010, there have been 9,268 Hyundai certified vehicles sold, a gain of 35.7 percent versus the year-ago period.

"Dealer engagement and sales growth are being fueled by attractive financing from Hyundai Motor Finance," Bowes noted.

Similarly, Lexus had its top June ever for CPO sales with 5,450 units sold, an improvement of 7.5 percent year-over-year.

And while the brand hasn't seen slowed sales, Lexus national certified pre-owned manager Chuck Yaeger said "from an inventory perspective, it's becoming more of a challenge" to find the CPO-worthy vehicles.

So how would he advise dealers to find these certifiable units?

"First and foremost is to really look hard at the grounding units," Yaeger noted, referring to the off-lease vehicles that come into dealerships.

Then, the second-best option is to get the most out of what is available online.

The third strategy is to use "whatever additional resources you have as a dealer," be it attending physical auctions or otherwise.

However, the first two strategies tend to be the most cost-effective for dealers.

"The better you utilize and scour that, the better off you're going to be economically," Yaeger noted.

As far as Lexus' year-to-date certified sales, they have climbed to 33,386 units, a gain of 12.6 percent.

At Toyota, dealers are being challenged to find certifiable used inventory via the traditional channels, but they have widened their searches and have become more resourceful. Toyota has relied strongly on giving dealers the necessary training to acquire certifiable inventory.

"Not only do they have a retail sales plan, but also an inventory acquisition plan," noted Scott Heyer, corporate manager of fleet, TRAC and TCUV at Toyota Motor Sales, USA.

"We train dealers aggressively about that. We want them to know all the acquisition methods available," Heyer shared.

Typically, what Toyota has found to be the best methods for acquiring the CPO units are the trade-ins, followed by the auctions and online auctions like TFS Dealer Direct as well as off-lease units.

And the brand is still reporting strong CPO sales results. Toyota moved 26,860 certified units in June, a 13-percent uptick year-over-year. Through the first six months of the year, it has sold 153,391 CPO units, a gain of 14.5 percent over last year's rate.

Furthermore, June marked the fourth straight month that the daily CPO sales pace was over 1,000 units per day for Toyota.

In all of 2009, August was the lone month that Toyota saw a per day rate of more than 1,000 units.

"It gives a good indication of our dealers' strength in the used-car business, especially the certified," Heyer commented. "It gives another indication of consumer confidence in the Toyota brand, given all the recall attention we've received this year.

"They're (consumers) voting with their dollars and they continue to demonstrate a great demand and interest for the product as evident by the strength of our sales," he added.

Moving on to Mercedes-Benz, dealers moved 6,425 CPO units in June, a gain of 7.1 percent year-over-year. Through the first six months of the year, its certified sales have totaled 41,322 vehicles, an improvement of 6.1 percent.

Scott Penza, manager of pre-owned operations for Mercedes-Benz USA, said that "we also hear that it is getting harder to find high quality CPO-eligible units. 

"The Mercedes-Benz dealers are experiencing a shift from the high volume of off-lease maturities from the captive that have been the norm for the past few years," he continued. "This decline in customers returning a lease vehicle to a dealership creates opportunity to go out a trade for those vehicles that were retail financed or cash purchased."

Looking at some other automakers, Volkswagen's certified sales reached 4,883 vehicles, a gain of 19.1 percent. Through June, its CPO sales have totaled 24,751 units, which is 1.9 percent stronger than the year-ago period.

"We continue to be encouraged by our growth in sales and market share over the past few months," stated Rob Martin, CPO manager for VW sales operations.

At Audi, dealers sold 2,590 certified vehicles, compared with 2,665 units in June 2009. Through the first six months of the year, CPO sales have totaled 13,505 vehicles, down from 16,011 units during the first half of 2009.

Next up, Nissan North America saw its certified sales total hit 7,373 vehicles during June, an improvement of 15.1 percent. Year-to-date sales have reached 44,689 units, compared with 39,577 vehicles in the year-ago period.

The Infiniti division's sales for June were 949 units (up 14.5 percent), while CPO sales for the Nissan brand were 6,424 (up 15.2 percent).

Citing Autodata statistics, Neal Zirkle, Nissan North America's senior manager for CPO and pre-owned vehicles, said the automaker's share of the CPO market last month (5.4 percent) was the highest it has ever been during June.

Offering some commentary, he noted: "NNA, along with our NMAC re-marketing team and Manheim launched a pilot program to assist our dealer network with acquiring pre-certified vehicles at closed auction.

"Currently being tested at Manheim's Nashville location, select vehicles are inspected and reconditioned to NNA's certified pre-owned standards allowing purchasing dealers to ‘buy on Friday, sell on Saturday,'" he continued. "Now in its second month of testing, the early feedback from our dealers has been overwhelming positive.

"The buyer's confidence is increased by having all CPO inspection, reconditioning, title insurance and CPO warranty cost covered by NNA. The buyer knows his full investment when making the bid in the lane," Zirkle added. "The vehicle, aside from a wash when delivered, is ready for sale as a factory certified vehicle. We anticipate overall volume to be a low percentage of all vehicles offered and look forward to expanding the number of Manheim locations offering pre-certified vehicles in the near future."

Moving over to domestic brands, Ford recorded certified sales of 11,091 units, compared with 11,087 vehicles in June 2009. So far in 2010, the automaker has seen CPO sales of 68,762 units, down 7.4 percent from last year's pace.

CPO sales for Lincoln/Mercury during were 1,548 units, a decrease of 10 percent, while the Ford division's certified sales climbed 1.9 percent to 9,543 units.

"Overall, Ford Lincoln Mercury CPO sales were flat year-over-year," said Ford CPO manager Glenn Burke, referring to the June results. "However, over half of the regions saw an increase in (year-over-year) sales. 

"This was the result of tremendous dealers placing more vehicles into CPO inventory, an aggressive dealer training program, and an attractive variable marketing program," he added. "Finally, CPO inventory was up 14 percent (year-over-year) — a great indicator of strong future CPO sales."

General Motors' certified brands combined to sell 26,620 vehicles during June, down 14.8 percent year-over-year. So far this year, CPO sales have reached 149,350 units, off 25.9 percent from last year's pace.

For comparison purposes, Saab results are not included in the monthly or yearly data for either period.

GM Certified Used Vehicles moved 24,486 certified vehicles in June. This amount includes sales for Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac and Saturn. In June 2009, the CPO sales total — which included Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile and Pontiac — was 27,442 units.

(Saab moved 245 CPO units in June, down from 396 in the year-ago time frame.) 

"Marking the end of the second quarter, GM Certified Used Vehicles saw modest gains in June sales compared to last year," stated Paul Pejza, manager of GM Certified Used Vehicles.

"And having extended our current incentives on the Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac G6, allowing qualified buyers to purchase these vehicles with APR financing as low as 1.9 percent, we're optimistic about future sales and confident that we'll continue our positive performance the second half of this year," he added.

At Chrysler, its certified brands combined to sell 9,223 units in June, a 24.6-percent increase over June 2009.  So far this year, CPO sales for the automaker have reached 52,641 vehicles, a 2.1-percent improvement from the first six months of last year.

Selling the most certified units in June for Chrysler was the Dodge brand, whose CPO sales reached 3,544 vehicles, a 17.3-percent uptick from the year-ago period.

Jeep's CPO sales of 3,139 units were up 41.1 percent year-over-year, while the Chrysler brand moved 2,540 certified vehicles, a 17.6-percent gain.

Continuing on, Honda's certified sales during June were 17,376, up 16.9 percent year-over-year. So far in 2010, it has moved 96,861 CPO vehicles, a 17.8-percent uptick.

Acura's CPO sales for the month were 3,680 units, compared to 3,662 units in the prior-year period. Through the first six months of 2010, its CPO sales have reached 20,768 units, down 1.7 percent year-over-year.

BMW sold 8,325 certified vehicles during the month, which was a 13-percent decline from June 2009. Year-to-date sales were at 56,682 CPO units, a 2.2-percent dip.

Subaru moved 1,600 certified vehicles during the month, compared with 1,100 in the year-ago period.

Volvo reported certified sales of 1,489 during June, compared to 2,091 a year ago. Through the first half of 2010, its CPO sales have reached 9,136 units, down 24.5 percent year-over-year.

Mazda's CPO results included sales of 530 units, compared to 486 last June.

"Mazda recently launch a revamped CPO program and dealers are looking for late-model, high-quality used cars.  Currently, Mazda has a strong off-lease portfolio maturing over the next six months," shared Eric Watson, manager of remarketing and CPO for Mazda.

"These vehicles, along with customer trade-ins are the perfect source for CPO vehicles. Mazda dealers have an exclusive period to buy these off-lease vehicles in upstream online auctions," he continued. "Dealers who aggressively prospect from their owner base and participate in the upstream auctions should have no problem finding ample inventory over the next six-months."

Next up, Kia sold 635 certified units in June, compared to 446 vehicles a year ago. So far this year, it has moved 3,469 CPO vehicles, up 69.4 percent year-over-year. 

When asked if Kia dealers are struggling to find used inventory, David Carp, Kia Motor America's director of fleet and remarketing said, "No, auction sales are up with Kia dealers purchasing over 50 percent of current Kia Motors auction inventory." 

As far as any challenges finding CPO-worthy inventory and any guidance the automaker has given, Carp noted: "All of the Kias sold at Kia-sponsored auctions are Kia CPO-eligible because they meet all the parameters required and only need the Kia Certified Inspection performed at the Kia dealership." 

Continuing on, Porsche reported CPO sales of 585 vehicles, a 4.7-percent year-over-year increase.

Jaguar moved 320 certified vehicles, off 30.3 percent from the year-ago figure, while Land Rover's CPO sales hit 242 units, down from 371 vehicles last June.

Mini sold 188 CPO units, compared to 167 a year ago.

It was estimated that Mitsubishi moved 33 CPO units during the month, while the projected CPO sales total for Bentley was 30 units.

Finally, there were 19 certified Maserati units sold, compared with 13 vehicles a year ago.