Retail used-vehicle sales climbed 0.6% from June to an estimated 1.44 million units in July, beating normal seasonal patterns even though volume was still 2.2% below a year earlier.
Credit access reached its highest level since November 2015 in July, helping sustain demand as dealers entered fall with a relatively balanced 46-day supply.
Dealer inventory edged up 0.2% from June to 2.15 million vehicles, but remained below July 2023 and 2024 levels and well short of roughly 2.4 million in July 2022.
Sub-$15,000 vehicles stayed especially scarce, with supply down 20% year over year to 32.2 days and their share of inventory falling to 16.4% from 20.6%.
Average listing prices held near $27,028—up 6% from a year earlier—while certified pre-owned sales rose 6.6% month over month to 223,676 units.