BANDON, Ore. — As damage tallies stemming from Superstorm
Sandy continue to climb, CNW Research determined the storm cost the
used-vehicle industry nearly a quarter-million used sales in October. Or, put
another way, $2 billion in "probable value."

Nonetheless, CNW said Thursday that October sales were still
up year-over-year by 4.6 percent.

The firm tabulated total used sales for the month from
franchised and independent dealers as well as private-party transactions came
in at more than 3.04 million. However, CNW's mid-month prediction was for used
sales of 3.27 million units.

Last October, the used industry produced sales of 2.9
million vehicles.

Because Sandy arrived as last month closed, CNW determined
franchised dealers lost nearly 83,000 units or 6.6 percent of their probable
sales in October. The firm indicated independent dealers turned 64,100 fewer
units than anticipated, which softened their predicted sales tally by 5.3
percent.

CNW went on to mention casual sales took the biggest
percentage drop – 9.8 percent – with 77,700 fewer than expected sales.

As a result, the firm broke down October sales as follows:

—Franchised dealers: 1,181,742 units
—Independent dealers: 1,147,692 units
—Private-Party Sales: 712,915 units

Despite a year-over-year gain in total sales, CNW president
Art Spinella said the level "was not enough to offset the lower average used
price when it came to the value of the cars and trucks sold."

In October, analysts tallied that the total value of used
transactions was $27.61 billion, down from the year-ago mark of $28.2 billion.

"The total industry lost about 7.3 percent of probable value
or $2.0 billion because of the storm," Spinella said.

The average transaction price last month was $9,074, down
from $9,699 a year earlier. October's average transaction prices by sales
category were:

—Franchised dealers: $12,486, down from $12,859 a year ago
—Independent dealers: $6,864, down from $7,570 a year ago
—Private-Party Sales: $6,976, down from $8,505 a year ago


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