Sales of used motor vehicles in Japan in May dropped 14 percent from a year earlier to 379,706 units, logging the biggest year-on-year fall on record, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday.

The association attributed the fall to the fact that the number of business days at automobile registry offices across Japan was three fewer during the month than in a normal month, due to the Golden Week holidays.

The previous biggest decline was 13.5 percent, logged in November 1997.

Sales of used cars fell 13.6 percent in the reporting month, while those of trucks dropped 13.5 percent.