Though trucks have retained value a bit better in the lanes so far this spring, last week’s auction activity saw both car and truck prices decline.

In fact, the overall segment change for trucks was the largest average segment decline since the week of Nov. 16, said Black Book’s Ricky Beggs.

Last week, the truck segments fell by an average of $51, the Black Book senior vice president and editorial director shared in his latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report.

And each truck segment that saw a price decline this past week had a larger dip than the previous week, Beggs said.

The outlier was the compact SUV. This segment actually saw an increase of $22.

Telling a similar story, the car segments declined by $37 this past week, compared to a decline of $33 the week before.

Beggs noted that some of the smaller declining car segments this week were due to “interest in smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.”

For example, the smaller declining segments were the entry sporty cars and the entry level cars, both of which fell by $22 this past week.

Comparisons to Year-Ago Period

So how did this past week compare to the same period of last year? According to Beggs, it wasn't too far off.

“Something of interest within the trucks appeared as all truck segments, except for the compact SUVs had a larger decline than the previous week. Is the market movement something out of the ordinary?” he asks.

Beggs' answer: No.

A year ago, the average change for trucks was a downward adjustment of $54 (compare to a $51 decrease this past week); for cars, it was a decrease of $34 (compared to the $37 dip this past week).

He went to give a bit more color to the comparison.

“A couple of variances from a year ago brought a significant larger number of adjustments during the week last year,” Beggs noted. “Even though the average change is a larger decline this year, over the past four weeks, the percent of adjustments that were increases was in the 26-28-percent  range, while one year ago it amounted to only 11-18 percent.”

He added: “The overall level of movement within the market of softening values should come as no surprise due to the continuing increase in new-vehicle sales, thus bringing in more trades.

“We are also on the verge of another model year of vehicles coming into the market, thus some special deals and incentives gaining attention for the new, especially affecting the one- and two-year-old used,” he concluded.

To view the latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report, see the video below: