CarMax
Q1 2023 Earnings Call
Jun 24, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the CarMax first-quarter fiscal-year 2023 earnings release conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to David Lowenstein. Please go ahead, sir.
David Lowenstein -- Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, Orlando. Good morning. Thank you for joining our fiscal 2023 first-quarter earnings conference call. I'm here today with Bill Nash, our president and CEO; Enrique Mayor-Mora, our executive vice president and CFO; and Jon Daniels, our senior vice president, CarMax Auto Finance operations.
Let me remind you our statements today that are not statements of historical fact, including statements regarding the company's future business plans, prospects, and financial performance, are forward-looking statements we make pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current knowledge, expectations, and assumptions and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. In providing projections and other forward-looking statements, we disclaim any intent or obligation to update them. For additional information on important facts that could affect these expectations, please see our Form 8-K filed with the SEC this morning and our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 28th, 2022, previously filed with the SEC.
Should you have any follow-up questions after the call, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations department at (804) 7470-0422 extension 7865. Lastly, let me thank you in advance for asking only one question and getting back in the queue for more follow-ups. Bill?
Bill Nash -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. For the first quarter of FY '23, our diversified business model delivered total sales of $9.3 billion, up 21% compared with last year's first quarter driven by growth in average selling prices and wholesale volume gains, partially offset by a decline in retail used units sold. Across our retail wholesale channels, we sold approximately 427,000 cars in total during the first quarter, down 5.5% versus last year's period.
In our retail business, total unit sales in the first quarter declined 11%, and used unit comps were down 12.7% versus the first quarter last year. Our performance was driven by the same macro factors that led to a marketwide decline in used auto sales during the quarter, including lapping material stimulus benefits paid in the prior year, widespread inflationary pressures including challenges to vehicle affordability, and lower consumer confidence. We began the first quarter with a double-digit decline in comp sales during March, continuing the fourth-quarter performance we discussed in our last earnings call. Comps then improved sequentially with May ending in a low single-digit decline.