With over 11,000 more units sold than last year, May’s CPO sales finished at 219,633, a 5.4% increase. This total increased by nearly 5,000 units, a 2.3% rise, over April. And CPO sales are up 6% or 61,000 units, when the first five months of 2023 are compared to the first five months of 2022, according to Cox Automotive’s monthly CPO sales report.
Still, this year’s increase is less than normally seen this time of year, according to Chris Frey, senior manager of Economic and Industry Insights at Cox Automotive. Frey explained that “CPO sales usually experience a significant surge from January to May, with a sharp increase in sales during the spring selling season.”
He added, “The gain in sales has been modest so far, and the volume changes from month to month have been the least volatile since 2019.”
Frey cited three reasons for modest CPO sales:
Continued high prices,
Declining credit availability, and
High interest rates.
In fact, he said, “CPO loans saw the most tightening in May both month over month and year over year, according to the Dealertrack Credit Availability Index.”
Toyota saw the largest CPO sales volume gain for May. Hyundai had the largest year-over-year percentage gain in CPO sales and Chevrolet had the largest percentage decline.
Used-vehicle sales estimated at 3.1M units in May, down 3.4% YoY. The seasonally adjusted annual rate, or SAAR, is expected to finish at 36.5 million, down from last May’s 37.8 million pace and down from April’s upwardly revised 36.9 million level, according to Cox.
Used retail sales were also estimated to be lower in May, down 3.0% year over year. Cox reported.
