CARY, N.C. -

After two weeks of improving numbers, the decline in used-vehicle sales at franchised dealerships compared to pre-virus projections got a bit steeper last week, according to J.D. Power.

But in total, used-car retail numbers in total are getting better when compared to year-ago figures, according to Cox Automotive.

Here’s a look into those respective data sets.

In a webinar Wednesday afternoon, J.D. Power shared data indicating that franchised dealers saw a 45% decline in used retail sales (compared to pre-virus expectations) last week.

During the week ending April 19, the decline was 42%, improving on the 54% and 61% declines in the two preceding weeks, respectively. Jonathan Banks is vice president of vehicle valuations & analytics at J.D Power Valuation Services.

“What we saw for used is not as dramatic of a recovery as new," Banks said, noting the steeper decline than the week before. "So used retail demand at franchised dealers is lagging a bit behind new-vehicle sales.” 

The decline in new-vehicle sales from pre-pandemic forecast was 39% last week, making it four straight weeks of improving numbers. For the week ending April 19, the new-car decline was 44%, following drop-offs of 50% (week of April 12), 55% (April 5) and 59% (March 29), according to J.D. Power.

Over at Cox Automotive, chief economist Jonathan Smoke released his weekly update video on Wednesday.

Smoke indicated that used-vehicle retail sales bottomed out at the beginning of April and have shown gains since then. Last week, used-vehicle sales were down 35% from prior-year figures. 

(The Cox Automotive numbers include franchised and independent used-vehicle retail sales, but not private-party sales.)

“That’s a significant improvement,” Smoke said of last week’s numbers.

It’s still a big drop, but consider that April began with year-over-year declines above 60%, according to the Cox data.

Smoke wrapped up his video with this message: “In conclusion, the market remains down. But we’re definitely seeing improvement in both new- and used-vehicle sales. We’re not out of the woods yet with COVID-19, and the key concerns in the coming weeks are going to be following the income disruption and unemployment that’s left in the wake of the crisis.”