Month-over-month improvement continued in October with 132,560 total fleet volume sales up from 124,930 in September. Combined rental, commercial and government purchases of new vehicles were down 27%, or 49,649 units, year over year in October.

Government units were up 8% year over year, on a small base, while rental units were down 43% year over year in October, an improvement over the 62% year over year drop in September. New-vehicle sales into the commercial channel declined 13% year over year in October.

Retail sales of new vehicles were up 5% year over year in October. October total new-vehicle sales were up .9% year over year, with one more selling days compared to October 2019. The October SAAR came in at 16.2 million, a decrease from last year’s 16.8 million and September’s 16.3 million rate.

Looking at automakers, year-over-year changes in fleet sales ranged from an increase of 55% to a decrease of 86%. General Motors saw its best performing month for fleet sales in 2020, attributed mostly to rental performance at a 98% year-over-year growth. Nissan saw the largest decrease in fleet sales in October, according to a Cox Automotive analysis.