LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

As online bidding evidently intensified, Black Book also noticed the price strength of cars continued last week.

The latest Black Book Market Insights report showed that overall car values, when looking at volume-weighted data, appreciated slightly by 0.09 percent last week as opposed to the average weekly depreciation rate of 0.19 percent seen during the previous four weeks.

Among car segments, editors noticed the sporty car and sub-compact car segments performed the best, increasing by 0.50 percent and 0.36 percent, respectively.

Again based on volume-weighted data, Black Book reported that overall truck values were nearly flat last week. The average weekly depreciation rate for trucks had been 0.31 percent during the previous four weeks.

Within those truck segments, editors determined compact vans improved the most in value by 0.59 percent whereas compact luxury crossover/SUVs dropped the most in value by 0.20 percent.

“Market strength continued last week with most car segments showing an appreciation in values, led by sub-compact and sporty cars,” said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics at Black Book.

In terms of how dealers are acquiring inventory, a pair of Black Book sale attendees described how store managers leveraged online capabilities instead of just watching the lanes in person.

A Black Book representative in Illinois reported back, saying, “Smaller crowd in the lanes, but online bidding was brisk. Very few no-sales and prices were consistently strong.”

A similar scenario unfolded in Ohio as the lane watcher noted, “A lot of the bidding at this high-line sale was online. Increased interest in cars over trucks and SUVs had a lot to do with price.”

Moving further to the East, the report out of Massachusetts went this way: “A rep from a large dealer group stated the market was ‘on fire’ today. SUVs and trucks were the strongest.”

In the Sunshine State, Black Book discovered consignors enjoyed success at the Florida auction where Black Book stationed a representative who said, “OEM and bank-owned vehicles sold at high percentages but were almost all nice vehicles with acceptable miles considering the model years.”

And finally turning attention out West, Black Book’s auction attendee in Washington mentioned that the “auction owner reported on a sale where the sold percentage was 73 percent. This was an event sale but that percentage certainly supports a strong market.”

Black Book’s specialty report for April

As it does on a monthly basis, Black Book also examined the specialty segments for its latest Market Insights report. The rundown is as follows:

—Collectibles: Editors noted this year started off on a high note with the collectible car auctions in Florida and Arizona pulling in big numbers, and the five auctions held in conjunction with the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance kept the momentum going with $121 million in sales.

—Recreational vehicles: With the exception of a few pockets of the country where the winter refuses to relax its grip, Black Book said it has started to see nicer weather and an active spring market.

—Powersports: Editors described the powersports market “is roaring ahead ‘full throttle’ this month with some of the largest increases in value they’ve seen in “quite some time.”

—Heavy duty: Black Book touched on this segment by stating, “The spring season brings us warmer weather, a fresh start for the New Year and used truck buyers refreshing their equipment if they are an end user, and restocking their inventory if they are a dealer.”

—Medium duty: Overall, editors pointed out medium duty trucks showed signs of strength in March, “which has been the norm for the past few years.”