LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

After seven years and 488 videos, Monday was the final edition of the “Beggs on the Used Car Market” report, as Ricky Beggs — auto analyst extraordinaire and staunch Georgia Bulldogs supporter — gets set to retire on April 1.

But before the Black Book senior vice president and editorial director signed off for a final time, he did as he always does, and that was to give an in-depth look at all the pricing moves in the wholesale market.

“This past month brought pretty solid overall values as the depreciation was at -1.2 percent, the same level as January results. But there are differences. The industry is right in the middle of the typical tax season,” Beggs said. “As we have tracked and reported the used market, there was an exceptionally active and strong November and December with a true focus on the models that generally fare better during the first of the year.

“January results had eight segments with depreciation less than -1.0 percent. The three best segments were car-related and two of those were the entry-level cars and the compact cars, both at -0.5 percent,” he added. “These are the lowest average price segments that generally get the most tax season type attention, regardless of the price of gas.

“As we moved through February and into March the market results at the same -1.2 percent depreciation had nine segments at less than -1.0 percent,” Beggs continued.

Where the difference occurred, he said, was in the entry-level cars and compact cars, which are some of the popular lower-priced car segments. Their depreciation levels (-1.38 percent for entry-level, -1.64 percent for compacts) were above average.

“What we see in this is that the tax season buying strength started earlier than normal, as far back as November 2014 and thus might have peaked and turned earlier in the calendar this year,” Beggs explained.

Moving on to trucks, their values fell 1.0 percent overall for February. Beggs pointed out strong values for compact SUVs, midsize SUVs and compact crossovers.

Additionally, he said, the full-size pickup — with robust demand in the new- and used-car markets — was strong over the last month, with values falling just 0.6 percent.

“A segment we have been reporting solid levels of pricing now for a full year is the full-size vans, both cargo and passenger versions. The cargo vans were at only -0.4 percent this past month,” Beggs said. “Another seasonal movement we have become accustomed to is the increase of gas prices right after the calendar year turns. Fortunately for this year the starting point is much lower by about $1.12, and the market reaction to this has been almost unnoticed.”

Insight Will Continue

Sharing more about his upcoming retirement and Black Book’s plans going forward,  Beggs had this to say: “As I mentioned earlier this is the final weekly video blog. Black Book will continue to offer insight into the market via the Black Book Market Insights report, with similar information you are accustomed to along with additional analytical data. Be sure to click on the link here to ensure delivery of this important weekly insight.

“As for the video, I couldn’t have imagined almost seven years ago in the summer of 2008 when Black Book president Tom Cross suggested sharing our market insight with a video blog that it would have continued this long or have grown into the significant following of viewers. Even the comments and feedback were astounding at times,” Beggs continued. “We were fortunate enough to bring you market insight every week covering the automotive market since 2008 and also four full years of monthly specialty market videos.

“All totaled up that comes to 488 videos. Thank you very much for your time and interest in these videos. We trust they added something that helped your business be a little more successful.”

He would go on to conclude his last post with this: “As we sign off this final time, again I thank you for your viewing and interest into these market based video blogs, but even more so for your use of the Black Book products and services. It was a pleasure and an honor to communicate with you in this format. Don’t forget that we will be looking for you on the auction lanes. Have a great week. It’s been a fantastic ride!”