According to CNW Research, used vehicle sales at the end of April hit year-to-date levels (11.26 million vehicles) not seen since 2002. CNW says more than 4 million of the vehicles were sold by franchised dealers, an increase of 300,000+ from the same time period last year, with the remainder split evenly between independent dealers and private party sales. In addition, the year-to-date figure for April 2013 was up more than 5% from the same period last year, which was the best year for used car sales since 2007. This early positive news comes before the warmest months of the year, a time when vehicle sales tend to increase. As the economy continues to recover, experts predict that sales of both new and used vehicles will also increase.