Used Car Sales Trending Upward

This month should see a major increase in used-car sales. TrueCar.com estimates used car sales for December at 3,349,510, up 13 percent from November and up 6.6 percent from December 2011. The ratio of new to used is estimated to be 1:3 for December 2012. New light vehicle sales in the U.S. (including fleet) is expected to be 1,370,658 units, up 19.9 percent from November (on an unadjusted basis). The December forecast translates into a SAAR of 15.6 million new car sales, up from 13.6 million in December 2011 and up from 15.5 million in November. Retail sales are up 23.6 percent from November. Fleet and rental sales are expected to make up 16.5 percent of total industry sales in December. The industry average incentive spending per unit will be approximately $2,409 in December 2012, which represents an increase of 4.3 percent from November.