The tax season may be contributing to a strong market in the lanes, says Black Book’s Ricky Beggs. The word from dealers last week at auction? “Busy buyers with sellers trying hard.”

Beggs explained the market was strong and active, as Black Book ended up adjusting the values of more than 2,040 vehicles per day throughout last week.

The managing editor said dealers were saying “plenty of clean cars were being offered,” and they were seeing “a strong buy-here, pay-here market" this past week, which could in part be spurred by tax season and early tax returns coming through.

And of the significant number of adjustments last week, 47 percent were increases.

“This has become a pattern recently as we have been at 41 percent or more of the adjustments increasing for the past three weeks,” Beggs said.

He went on to explain the most positive activity “continues to be reflective of the $10,000 and under vehicles that do so well during the spring tax season.”

Beggs added: “In the continuing edgy economy, this price level appeals to so many more potential retail customers.”

And as gas prices continue to approach $4 at the pump, Beggs said the third most-mentioned item in the lanes is climbing fuel rates.

The national average at the beginning of last week was $3.75 per gallon for gas and $4.16 for diesel fuel, Black Book reported.

“With the $0.39 increase for gas since the first of February it still puts us only $0.16 higher than the same week one year ago. The diesel increase is pretty significant an increase but less than gas at a $.23 increase during February,” Beggs said.

But is the rise in gas rates already affecting the wholesale market?

Consumers and dealers may be shifting their interest towards gas-sippers, as the three segments with the best retention last week fall into the fuel-efficient category.

The entry-level car segment saw an increase of $29; the entry midsize car segment rose by $12; and  the compact cars saw less than a dollar change, Beggs shared.

“These same three segments were in the top five of retention the previous week as well,” he added.

That said, it would seem the truck market is not seeing negative affects from high gas prices quite yet.

“The truck market remains pretty solid with three segments increasing for the week,” Beggs said.

Specifically, the midsize pickups ($17), the compact SUVs ($13) and the midsize SUVs ($4) all saw price increases this past week.

“The bottom line is the market is alive, and dealers are looking for good inventory,” Beggs concluded.

The Retail Price Outlook

Though prices may be up in the lanes, dealers may be having trouble making up the difference in the lots, as CNW Research reported “used prices continue to be weak” this month.|

According to CNW’s February Retail Automotive Summary, company president Art Spinella, said, “Used-vehicle prices trailed year-ago for both franchised and independent dealers in the opening days of February with little sign of retail prices rebounding.”

Specifically, franchised dealers were only able to get 93 percent of their asking prices for used cars and trucks, down from last year’s 95 percent, CNW reported.

The average transaction price this month for franchised dealers is $10,562, compared to $11,090 in 2012.

And independent dealers saw a slight slide, as well; they were able to score 92.7 percent  of their asking prices, compared to 93 percent during the same period of last year.

The average transaction price for independents this month is $9,174, down from $9,784 during the same period of last year.

And though prices may be falling on the lots, it seems rates on third-party sites are holding relatively stable, only seeing slight declines from December.

According to an entry in Cars.com’s “Kicking Tires” blog, late-model used-car prices held “steady” in this month.

The average asking price in Cars.com vehicle listings fell just $12 from December to stand at $22,650, according to the blog.That said, a few models, in particular, bucked the trend, seeing much steeper declines than the norm.

Mike Hanley of Cars.com, who authored the blog, gave the following examples in the entry:

“The Chevrolet Express 3500 registered the biggest fall as the heavy-duty full-size van saw its average asking price slip 12 percent to $21,679, a decline of $2,847.

“Another Chevrolet, the Corvette sports car, saw the biggest pure-dollar decrease with a $3,091 price drop, but a higher overall price means the decline was just 5 percent.”

On the other hand,  prices for the BMW X5 luxury SUV climbed 8 percent ($3,662) in February to $49,512,  followed by the Subaru Impreza (up 6 percent) and Jeep Grand Cherokee (up 4 percent), Cars.com reported.

To read the full blog post, see here.

Sarah Rubenoff can be reached at srubenoff@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.