Fleet Sales Recovery Reverses in August, Down 51% Year Over Year

The month-over-month improvement in fleet sales reversed in August with only 101,159 of total fleet volume, down from 104,769 in July and 206,652 in August 2019. Combined rental, commercial and government purchases of new vehicles were down 51% year over year in August.

Government units were up 13.5% year over year, on a small base, while rental units were down 83% year over year in August, a slight improvement over the 84.5% year over year drop in July. New-vehicle sales into the commercial channel declined 17% year over year in August.

Retail sales of new vehicles were down 15% year over year in August, leading to a retail SAAR of 14.0 million, down from 14.9 million last August but up from July’s 13.4 million rate. 

August total new-vehicle sales were down 19% year over year, with two less selling days compared to August 2019. The August SAAR came in at 15.2 million, a decrease from last year’s 17.1 million but up from July’s 14.6 million rate.

Looking at automakers, manufacturers saw year-over-year changes in fleet sales ranging from an increase of 8.1% to a drop of 89.1%. Toyota saw its best performing month in fleet sales since March with 8.1% year-over-year growth compared to August 2019. Nissan saw the largest decrease in fleet sales in August, according to our data analysis.