Last week, auction prices continued to soften.

Though the weather outside is indicating the approaching summer, this trend may be one of the first signs we “are heading toward the fall and the market getting ready for another model year to enter into the choices,” according to Black Book editorial director Ricky Beggs.

During his latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report, he provided the following statistics to back up this assertion.

Last week saw the lowest amount of daily price adjustments in the lanes since the week ending Jan. 24, with just 1,390 adjustments per day.

And of these changes, only 38 percent were increases — the lowest level seen since the week ending Feb. 1.

That said, prices remained relatively stable last week, with no unusually large price drops.

The car segments saw an overall average drop of $44, which was actually the lowest level of decline over the past four weeks, during which prices fell by an average of $52.

Beggs also pointed out another trend that points to a shift in the market season.

Over the past three months, the entry level cars, compact cars, entry midsize cars and the upper midsiz cars have all experienced strong price retention due to the tax season market.

This past week, the tides turned, and these four segments joined the premium sporty cars with the largest weekly declining dollar amounts.

On the other hand, the truck market remains strong with an average decline of only $13 last week.

The truck segments with the largest price drops were the luxury SUVs, with a decline of $83, and the full-size crossovers, which saw prices fall by $43.

The full-size pickups continued to show price strength at auction with a $14 rise in prices last week, marking the 11th consecutive weekly increase for the segment.

The largest increase for the trucks this past week was within the mid-size pickup segment. coming in with a $40 price increase.

"Another couple of segments that are benefiting from the positive growth in the construction and service industries are the full-size vans, which have both increased for the past eight weeks. Even the small volume cargo minivans are prospering with increasing values for the past 12 weeks, although the increase was only $4 this past week," said Beggs.

And if you are looking for a segment that has had the least level of change over the past month, that would be the full-size SUVs, says Beggs.

The segment saw prices rise by an average of $2 last week, after touting a $1 increase the prior week. The full-size SUVs saw slight declines of only $8 and $12, three and four weeks ago.