Bill Nash
Director, President & Chief Executive Officer at CarMax
Great. Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us.
The current challenges in the used auto industry are well documented. With affordability pressured by broad inflation, climbing interest rates, tightening lending standards and prolonged low consumer confidence. We are continuing to leverage our strongest assets, our associates, our experience in our culture to build momentum and manage through this cycle. While there are many macro factors that we cannot control, we have taken deliberate steps to support our business both the near-term and the long run. This quarter, we reduced SG&A further.
We delivered strong retail GPU through our vehicle acquisition, reconditioning and margin management strategies, while continuing to test price elasticity. We adjusted offers to deliver strong wholesale GPU, while increasing unit sales quarter-over-quarter. We aligned used saleable inventory units with market conditions, while driving down total inventory dollars more than 25% year-over-year. And finally, we raised CAF's consumer rates to help offset rising cost of funds while still growing CAF's penetration. We are prioritizing initiatives to drive efficiency and improve experiences for our associates and customers. We believe these steps will enable us to come out of this cycle leaner and more effective, while also positioning us for future growth.
Reflecting on fiscal '23, we achieved a number of key milestones in each area of our diversified business model. We enabled online self-progression for all of our retail customers; enhanced our wholesale shopping experience; and completed the nationwide rollout of our finance based shopping prequalification product. All of these accomplishments further position our business for growth as the most customer centric experience in the industry. I'll talk more about these later in the call.
And now into our results for the fourth quarter of FY '23. Our diversified business model delivered total sales of $5.7 billion, down 26%, compared to last year, driven by lower retail and wholesale volume and prices. In our retail business, total unit sales declined 12.6% and used unit comps were down 14.1%. Average selling prices declined approximately $2,700 per unit or 9% year-over-year. In addition to the macro factors I mentioned previously, we believed our performance continued to be impacted by transitory competitive responses to the current environment.
Our market share data indicated that our nationwide share of zero to 10-year old vehicles remained at 4% for calendar year 2022. External title data shows that the market share gains we achieved during the first-half of the year were offset by share losses during the second-half of the year as we prioritize profitability over near-term market share. For context, we have lost the market share during prior down cycles. In those cases, we recovered the market share and then continued to grow up to new heights as economic conditions improved.
We remain focused on achieving profitable market share gains that can be sustained for the long-term and plan to continue running extensive price elasticity tests. The results from our most recent test confirmed that holding margins during the quarter was the right profitability play. Despite the decrease in average selling price, fourth quarter retail gross profit per used unit was $2,277, up $82 per unit year-over-year, demonstrating our ability to appropriately value vehicles and effectively manage margin in inventory.
Wholesale unit sales were down 19.3% versus the fourth quarter last year, but improved from the 36.7% decline during this year's third quarter as our total boughts' from consumers and dealers improved sequentially. Wholesale average selling price declined approximately $3,200 per unit or 28% year-over-year, that we saw some appreciation beginning in January. Wholesale gross profit per unit was $11.87, which is consistent with last year's fourth quarter. Margin benefited from the recent price appreciation I just mentioned and from strong dealer demand, particularly at the end of the quarter.
We bought approximately 262,000 vehicles from consumers and dealers during the quarter, down 22% from last year's record, but a sequential improvement from the 40% decline during this year's third quarter. Our self-sufficiency remained above 70% during the quarter. We purchased approximately 247,000 cars from consumers in the quarter with a little more than half of those buyers coming through our online instant appraisal experience. We sourced approximately 15,000 vehicles through dealers, up 4% from last year. In regard to our fourth quarter online metrics, approximately 14% of retail unit sales were online, up from 11% in the prior year, approximately 52% of retail unit sales were omni sales this quarter, down from 55% in the prior year.
Nearly all of our fourth quarter wholesale auctions in sales which represents 18% of total revenue remain virtual and are considered online transactions. We began a small wholesale auction simulcast test during the quarter to gauge dealer interest in resuming in-person attendance and will continue to test options for live attendance during FY '24. Total revenue resulting from online transactions was approximately 30%, down slightly from last year. CarMax Auto Finance or CAF delivered income of $124 million, down from $194 million during the same period last year. Jon will provide more detail on customer financing, the loan loss provision and CAF contribution in a few moments.
At this point, I'd like to turn the call over to Enrique, who will provide more information on our fourth quarter financial performance. Enrique?
