LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Along with the perspective of an auction owner from the West Coast, the latest Black Book Market Insights report took a look at comparing the weekly retention strength of cars and trucks dating back to the beginning of the year.

Editors found that cars have started to see larger depreciation since late spring after a stronger-than-expected tax season earlier in the year.

“Clean quality used vehicles with low mileage remain in demand, however as expected, the overall wholesale market continues to soften as we enter the last month of summer,” Anil Goyal, Black Book’s senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics, said in a news release.

According to volume-weighted data, Black Book indicated overall car segment values decreased by 0.57 percent last week, with six of nine segments depreciating more than half a percentage point.

Editors noted the midsize car and luxury car segments declined the most: 0.87 percent and 0.82 percent, respectively.

Turning back to volume-weighted information, Black Book determined the overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — softened by 0.28 percent last week. The report also mentioned only three truck segment received steeper weekly depreciation rates than that of the prior week.

Editors pointed out small pickups declined the most among truck segments, dropping by 0.71 percent. That segment also has the highest four-week depreciation rate with an average of 0.66 percent.

Moving along to what Black Book’s personnel in the lanes reported back to headquarters, an auction owner in Washington shared this assessment.

“The market has been really solid as of late. The slight shortage in certain sectors, combined with good retail activity has caused a bit of an uptick in auction activity. Across all segments, it seems that demand is really strong right now,” the owner said.

Two other auction reports originated out of the Midwest, with the first one coming out of Indiana.

“As has been the case all summer the consignment was down. The demand seems high so the prices are holding steady even with the huge truck rebates,” the lane watcher in the Hoosier State said.

Meanwhile, out of Ohio, Black Book’s representative stated, “Miscellaneous credit unions and dealer consignment made up a good portion of the auction with pretty good results. Dealers have a positive attitude about the late summer market conditions we are experiencing.”

Sliding to the South, the story coming out of Tennessee was, “Pickup trucks were strong today and it appeared that all of the vehicles floored under $10,000 did exceptionally well.”

Wrapping up in Florida, Black Book’s observer noted, “The finance lanes did well today but the dealer consigned vehicles had a tough time of it.”