Certified preowned sales were essentially flat in October, down a mere 0.2% year-over-year to just over 207,000 units, though month-over-month sales fell 10%, said Cox Automotive said, which indicated that one fewer selling day contributed to the dip.

Cox expected CPO sales to be stronger for the month, as they’re besting the overall used-vehicle market for the year and are still on target to meet its full-year forecast of 2.7 million units.

“Consumers may have chosen new over nearly new in October,” ventured Cox Senior Manager of Economic and Industry Insights Chris Frey in a press release. “With growing inventory levels, we saw healthy new-vehicle sales in October.”

CPO vehicles have done well since the pandemic due to high new-vehicle prices and limited new inventory until recently revived supply. So far this year, more than 2.2 million of them have sold in the U.S., up about 8% year-over-year, according to Cox data. Their sales are also exceeding those of the overall used-vehicle segment, which fell 0.4% month-over-month to three million.

It said luxury CPOs are up 11% year-to-date and nonluxury units up 7%. Asian brands are outdoing both European and the big Detroit three, up 12% to their 6% and 2%, respectively, Cox said.

DIG DEEPER: Used-Vehicle Sales Decline in October