Automakers reported their third consecutive month of lower sales this week, but there remains one bright spot for car sales: certified used cars, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Used cars are selling well for a number of reasons, according to the Courier Journal. Consumers have been trading in new cars to take advantage of the zero percent

financing deals that automakers have offered for the past year. The declining popularity of leases also has flooded the used-car market with

low-mileage, newer-model vehicles. And with the economy's uncertainty, some people simply are choosing used cars over new ones.

"The incentives have been good not only for consumers looking for new cars, but it's also been good for the typical used-car buyer,'' said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

"What we find across the board is upgrading -- somebody who might buy a 5-year-old used car is buying a 3-year-old car, and someone who might

buy a 2-year-old car is buying something new," Taylor said, according to the Courier Journal.