As both car and truck values softened at a pace similar to what’s been seen during the past month, Black Book’s Anil Goyal and the company’s representatives at the auctions are noticing a clear strategy dealers are using nowadays as they walk the lanes or watch the online sales.

“Dealers continue to remain interested in clean units from auctions to make up for a lower number of good trade-in vehicles,” said Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics, in the latest Black Book Market Insights report.

Looking at the volume-weighted data, editors determined that overall car segment values decreased by 0.45 percent last week, similar to the average weekly decrease of 0.48 percent in values over the previous four weeks.

Black Book indicated that the subcompact car and luxury car segments declined the most by 0.76 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively.

Over on the truck side, the volume-weighted data showed that overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans, softened by 0.39 percent a week ago, not far off of the average weekly dip of 0.33 percent in values over the previous four weeks.

Editors pointed out that luxury crossover/SUVs in the midsize, compact and subcompact sizes declined the most among truck segments by 0.73 percent, 0.70 percent and 0.70 percent, respectively.

Turning back to what Black Book’s observers saw at the auction, the anecdotes back up what Goyal assessed about the overall market.

Out of Florida, the story was, “Dealers only buying vehicles to fill holes in their inventory.”

A similar situation played out in Tennessee as Black Blook’s representative said, “A good sale today and a great day for pick-up trucks. There seemed to be more clean vehicles being represented today, which was a welcome change for dealers struggling to get quality trade-ins on their lots.”

Two reports surfaced out of Pennsylvania. The first recap stated, “Attendance was better in the lanes today, but the majority of the sales were via the Internet.” The other one noted, “A lower sold percentage as dealers are anticipating lower prices around the corner.”

Finally, the observations from the lanes wrapped up in Massachusetts where lane watcher said, “Overall, a typical August market here with some expected anxiety preceding another fall season.”