News Coverage
Why used-car sales should remain at peak levels in 2019
Tuesday April 9, 2019
Article Highlights
- The annualized rate of used-car sales in March was more than 39.5 million*, beating year-ago figures by roughly 200,000 units, Cox Automotive manager of economic and industry insights Zo Rahim said during a conference call on Cox Automotive’s Q1 Market Review.
- “The used-vehicle market is not expected to grow in 2019, as we peak into a plateau,” Rahim said. “But keep in mind, we expect 2019, like 2018, to be the strongest used environment of this expansion.”
- In his Auto Market Weekly Summary to open April, Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke wrote, “Tax refunds are powering a strong used-car market, especially for affordable vehicles.”
Auto Remarketing, April 9, 2019 — It wasn’t the strongest of starts to the year for used-vehicle sales, but the first quarter closed with the pre-owned market poised to remain at peak levels.
The annualized rate of used-car sales in March was more than 39.5 million*, beating year-ago figures by roughly 200,000 units, Cox Automotive manager of economic and industry insights Zo Rahim said during a conference call on Cox Automotive’s Q1 Market Review.
(*This is a measure of annualized numbers, which provides a trailing 12-month view of sales, Cox Automotive clarified. This is different than the seasonally adjusted annualized rate, commonly referred to as SAAR)
There were 38.6 million used-car sales in 2016, followed by 39.4 million in 2017 and an estimated 39.5 million in 2018, according to the data provided by Cox Automotive.