GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

It seems as gas prices are returning to more normal levels as summer wraps up, consumers may be losing interest in fuel-efficient vehicles.

Black Book’s Ricky Beggs says falling gas prices have sped up fuel-efficient vehicles’ wholesale depreciation in the recent weeks.

Highlighting last week’s price environment in the lanes, Beggs — the editorial director and senior vice president at Black Book — explained that as car segments showed an average of $57, or 0.42-percent, depreciation last week, "the falling price of gas is placing downward pressure on smaller cars and more fuel-efficient trucks and utilities."

This decline marks the largest weekly depreciation level since the week ending Jan. 18, when auctions saw an average downslide for car segments of $64, Beggs reported in his latest "Beggs on the Used Car Market," video report.

And all of the segments declining more than 0.54 percent during the week fit into the more fuel-efficient model categories, Beggs said.

"If this pattern continues for the full month, we would have depreciation ranging from 2.16 percent to 3.64 percent, much larger than the traditional monthly depreciation rates typically seen," he said

And even the trucks were seeing effects of normalizing gas rates last week, as the five truck segments with the largest depreciation last week were also the most fuel-efficient truck segments.

Interestingly, the average truck segment change came exactly the same at the car segments' level at -.42 percent, with a slightly lower dollar amount of -$53.

According to Beggs, the current average price at the pump is $3.56 per gallon, which constitues a 7 cent drop week-over-week, and is 16 cents less than rates seen at the same time last year.

"The price at the pump seems to be more detrimental to the smaller cars and the more fuel-efficient trucks and utilities," Beggs concluded.

To view the latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report, see below: