Tax refunds help. I worked in the mortgage business and our best months for lowest delinquency rates were March and April.

Very true Strat. Always a big time of year for retailers to anticipate customers with tax refunds burning a hole in their pocket.

It is significant still that it is same time frame growth year-to-year.

I try and go to the Cleveland Auto Show every year and I am always surprised what the price of some of the vehicles are selling for. We bought our GMC Yukon at the end of 2005, I think sticker price on it was $45k. Just a midlevel well equipped Yukon, not the Denali. Similar vehicle now lists for low 70s and if you want the Denali it will push $80k. Same goes for all the 1/2 ton and bigger trucks. And Jeeps. In the mid 1990s a Jeep Wrangler would start out around $15k and now they start out mid $20s. Not only that, but the way they offer Wranglers now, fully loaded top of the line model like a 4 door Rubicon or Sahara is something like $45k....for a Wrangler!! Not a Grand Cherokee, just a Wrangler.

Pretty crazy the prices they are getting these days. But people are paying apparently. Wrangler just sold it's best month ever in March and they have been selling Wranglers since 1987.

Ford didn't beat estimates by as much as GM and FCA, but one of their headline numbers was the growth in their "transaction price" for the F-Series 1/2, 3/4, 1 ton which increased $1700 from last year to avg $46,800.