A 10-cent drop in gas price could have created a stir on the wholesale market, but Ricky Beggs and the Black Book team didn’t spot one last week.

However, Beggs cheered the downward movement of fuel prices, which according to his calculation now have softened for 13 weeks in a row to leave the national average at $3.36 per gallon.

“The last time it was this low was the week of Jan. 2,” Beggs recollected during this latest online video commentary, “Beggs on the Used Car Market."

However, Beggs said the price of gas at the pump is not driving wholesale market values.

“We still see the current vehicle value changes being a result of the move to make a realistic gap in value between the one- and two-year-old used vehicles and the next model year of vehicles,” he explained. “We also now have a little better supply of used vehicles in the market from which to choose.”

With the Fourth of July falling directly in the middle of last week, Beggs recapped how the holiday changed auction activity before delving into specific price movements.

“We hope you had a great Fourth of July holiday and that your retail business never skipped a beat,” Beggs began. “As our editors and survey personnel attended the auctions this past week around the middle-of-the-week holiday, we were pleasantly surprised at the level of attendance and the fairly aggressive activity. The Thursday sales brought better results than the pre-holiday Tuesday auctions. Sure there were some no sales, but business was getting done.

“From all of the auction results we analyzed this past week, the softness continues, just not at the declining levels of the values we have become accustomed to seeing over the past three to four weeks,” he continued.

“We have now had three consecutive weeks where all 10 car segments declined and five consecutive weeks of declining values for the truck segments,” Beggs went on to say. “The nicest thing is the overall average segment change amount this past week is the smallest decline during those consecutive weeks of decline.”

Black Book determined that prices for cars on average dropped by $35 while truck prices declined an average of $49.

In taking a deeper look at car-price trends, Beggs decided to look at how some specific segments are behaving now as compared to a year ago.

For example, Black Book determined prices premium sporty cars dipped $21 last week and dropped $23 during the same span a year ago. Editors also mentioned prices for upper midsize cars slipped $43 last week but softened $30 during the same week last year.

Furthermore, Beggs mentioned four vehicle segments sustained greater price declines last week than they did last year. The decreases ranging from $43 to $67 effected prestige luxury cars, entry level cars, luxury level cars and full-size cars.

Within truck segments, Black Book indicated luxury SUVs and full-size SUVs posted the largest weekly price change at $64 and $62, respectively. The most stable truck segment still posted a $20 price decline — compact SUVs.

“A year ago the overall average segment change within the trucks was $60, similar to but slightly larger than the past weekly change,” Beggs explained.

Beggs wrapped up his latest commentary by again revisiting a connection between gas prices and wholesale price movements

“For the past eight weeks, the three segments with the best fuel economy — compact cars, entry level cars and entry midsize cars — have consistently declined,” he noted.

“The last time a truck segment increased week over week was for the week ending June 1, when compact SUVs, a pretty fuel efficient group of vehicles, actually increased by $9,” he added.

“Have a great week and we look forward to seeing you on the auction lanes,” Beggs concluded.

Beggs’ video can be viewed below.