The sales of secondhand vehicles, excluding minivehicles with engines of up to 660 cc, marked the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year fall, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.

The association also traced the latest fall to the shortage of good- quality, low-mileage cars that vehicle owners traded in for new ones.

"It will take a while for the secondhand auto market to wage a rebound," an association official said.

By vehicle type, sales of secondhand passenger cars skidded 9.4 percent to 285,591 units.

Of the passenger total, sales of cars of more than 2000 cc declined 12.7 percent to 133,526 units, while those of cars of up to 2000 cc fell 6.4 percent to 152,065 units.

Sales of used trucks declined 15.2 percent to 38,635 units. Bus sales edged down 1.1 percent to 1,306 units, it added.