Black Book’s Ricky Beggs has mingled within a fair share of auction lanes, but he witnessed activity developing last week he doesn’t ever remember seeing before.

What was it? The vice president and managing editor explained during his weekly video series “Beggs on the Used Car Market.”

Beggs began with, “While I was standing on the physical lanes one day last week, it was interesting to note the spread between the final bid and the asking price of the seller on those units that didn’t sell.

“Typically you would expect the seller and bidder to be only $100 to $200 apart,” he continued. "At this level, the auctioneer and ring man would be working real hard to consummate the deal. Just like college football, you are not going to win on every car you bid on and want.

“What jumped out at me was the final bid and the floor pricing was much, much wider apart, with neither party budging at all,” Beggs pointed out. “This is a pattern I can’t remember in the past. It was mostly noticeable on some of the commercial account lanes. Sure, many of these accounts don’t have a lot of inventory, but it’s way too early to think about holding cars until the first of the year.”

Beyond this type of instance, Beggs insisted last week was an interesting one inside and outside of Black Book’s offices.

“While there were a variety of comments throughout the week about the market relating to wholesale and retail, the enthusiasm to ‘make it happen’ was prevalent with every dealer,” Beggs shared.

“With the seasonal adjustments we are currently making, nobody is shaking their head or wringing their hands about the transactions that were or were not taking place,” he added. “Several dealers I talked with said their retail business was picking up during the last couple of weeks."

After sharing what the mood is like in the lanes and on the lots, Beggs went into the price movements his company has witnessed.

Even though the market continues to produce lower values, Black Book found the percentage of vehicles adjusted with increases in value stood at 20 percent — the highest level since Aug. 5.

The overall price movement settled at a decline of $82, the lowest overall shift since July 8.

Meanwhile the average number of vehicles needing adjustments a week ago was Black Book’s lowest figure in six weeks, 1,718 units per day.

Turning over to just car segments, the overall decline for these units soared to $73, the largest since Black Book registered a $75 decline for cars back on Dec. 10.

Beggs pointed out much of car decline came from the softening of prices for premium sporty cars and prestige luxury cars. Three car segments didn’t drop as much as the overall average, in fact they dropped by less than $50. This group included full-size cars (down $29), entry level cars (down $47) and entry midsize cars (down $49).

Unlike cars, Black Book determined trucks settled more in line with changes from previous weeks. The average truck change during the past three months is a drop of $46 per week.

This past week, Black Book reported that trucks slid down $43.

Beggs noticed only one truck segment moving down dramatically, as full-size crossovers sunk $123.

Conversely, the Black Book veteran mentioned compact SUVs ticked higher for the second week in a row, gaining $34.

In closing his latest post, Beggs insisted that “fall is a wonderful time of the year.

“The weather often brings crisp mornings and very pleasant days. New models are showing in the market and this past month the new-car sales numbers are improving and showing that there is some pent up demand even in this struggling economy,” he explained.

“Increased new-car sales will also bring a bump in the number of trade-ins. This will not be enough to flood the market and adversely affect the used values, but at least it throws a few fresh choices in the mix,” Beggs surmised.

“Rest assured our team of editors and survey personnel will be on the lanes tracking and reporting the market with fresh daily value updates,” Beggs emphasized. “Keep bidding, and we hope you have a great week.”

Beggs videos can be viewed here.