Automotive analysts TrueCar released their initial forecast for the month of September for today, predicting that sales would be up compared to 2010 but down from the previous month.

The company is projecting total sales of 1,054,599 units in America, which represents a 10 percent increase over September 2010. However, it's down slightly - 1.6 percent - compared to last month's totals.

New cars did better than used ones overall, as the used total was down more than 15 percent compared to last month and up 4.5 percent over the previous year.

"New vehicle sales are doing particularly well, even with worries of a recession and another wild month for the financial markets in September," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights for TrueCar.com. "If the current trends hold, we expect 2011 total new light vehicle sales to be 12.75 million units - up 10 percent from 2010."

Still, the figure falls short of the original industry expectations. In a AAA survey, many drivers indicated that they were holding onto their current vehicles due to the economy, rather than purchasing a new car. This can be a sound strategy, but drivers who plan to do this should be sure to invest in vehicle inspections and tune-ups to keep their car running well.