December is throwing some curveballs in the lanes. As commentary from Black Book personnel at auction flowed in last week, it became clear “the market is not acting in typical December fashion.”

That’s according to Black Book editorial director Ricky Beggs, who highlighted some unusual movement for auction prices this past week in his latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report.

“Sellers are more willing to move the product, and buyers are not just buying for today’s end of the year retail push, but aggressively going after inventory that will meet the needs of the tax refund buyers of February, March and April,” Beggs said of last week’s action in the lanes.

And as we move closer toward winter, Beggs said it is all about trucks and four-wheel drive SUVs — and high demand is making for unusually slight depreciation among these segments.

The truck segments saw an average decline of $26 last week, with several segments seeing increases in value.

Both of the full-size van segments, along with the compact pickups and the compact SUVs saw prices rise slightly.

The full-size pickups and the midsize SUVs saw a slight drop of $5, while the full-size SUVs fell by $9.

“It is all about trucks and 4X4 SUVs. If I was a seller and needed to move inventory I would hope to have a stronger mix of those type units. The activity and prices of these was the main focus of the reports from the Southwest, Western Coast, Northwest, Midwest and Southeast,” said Beggs. “About the only area of the country not referencing this was the Northeastern part of the country.”

On the car side of the market, price trends were unusual for this time of year, as well. The $37 average decline among cars this past week was the lowest weekly depreciation rate since the week ending May 2.

The lowest weekly decline was posted for the entry level cars, compact cars and entry midsize cars, which all fell by $15 or less.

“These segments have also been the better performing segments consistently over the past few years during the first quarter of the year. We see this as another sign of the tax season pulling ahead,” Beggs said.

“So as you see, the finished adjustments confirm that it is an unusual market for the early part of December. We still have one more full week of auction activity before the holiday weeks,” he concluded.

See above for the latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report.