McLEAN, Va. -

Though many were expecting used prices to decline toward the end of March, rates remained high, and they aren't expected to drop until later this month.

According to NADA Used Car Guide’s latest Guidelines report, this indicates prices won’t fall off during the first few weeks of April.

Jonathan Banks, NADA UCG executive analyst, said in the report that another factor reinforcing this assumption is the fact that transaction volume continued to trend lower as March came to a close.

That said, many vehicles, including off-rental units, didn’t make it to auction last month due to winter weather — and these units are expected to reach the lanes as April progresses, according to the report.

“As a result, we expect April to start off with prices remaining rather high before beginning to taper off somewhat precipitously toward the latter half of the month,” Banks said.

Though prices will most likely remain high for another week or so, NADA is forecasting auction rates will fall by 1.8 percent to 2.2 percent compared to March rates.

This is higher than both the 1.7-percent drop recorded last year and the 1.2-percent decline averaged for the month over the past 10 years, Banks pointed out.

Interestingly, price movement is expected to reverse for many vehicles, as Banks predicts the biggest drops this month will be seen among the segments that experienced the biggest increases in March. That would be midsize cars, utilities and vans, as well as compact cars.

Luxury cars are also expected to see prices drop more than the predicted average.

And once again, it looks like pickups will beat the curve for price retention — prices in this segment are expected to stay fairly consistent this month.  

Moving along into later spring, NADA is predicting that used price depreciation will jump to a rate of 3 percent, which is also one of the highest rates of decline expected for 2014.

According to NADA Used Car Guide’s 2014 Used Vehicle Price Forecast report, average wholesale prices of used cars and light trucks up to 8 years old will fall by a range of 0.5 percent to 1 percent this year.

The drop is due primarily to an increase in used supply, but the rate of decline will stay modest, says NADA UCG, due to a few macroeconomic factors.

"Economic growth is expected to accelerate to its fastest pace since 2005, keeping demand for new and used autos high," said Banks. "A strong economy, combined with other positive factors, leads to a more positive outlook for used-vehicle prices in 2014."