LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

It’s been about two weeks since the Internal Revenue Service started to release refunds, and the impact appears to be making its way to the auction lanes.

The latest Black Book Market Insights report indicated small cars and crossovers performing better than luxury vehicles in the car segment. But overall, editors noticed vehicles in the truck segment are still retaining their values better with three segments increasing their value as much as 0.42 percent.

“Small cars and crossovers performed the best among all segments last week, driven by higher interest from tax season buyers,” said Anil Goyal, Black Book’s senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics.

When reviewing volume-weighted data, Black Book reported overall car segment values decreased by 0.54 percent last week, higher than the depreciation rate of 0.37 percent seen in the previous four weeks.

Editors found that prestige luxury car, luxury car and near luxury car segments declined the most by 0.91 percent, 0.80 percent and 0.56 percent, respectively.

Again looking at volume-weighted information, Black Book determined overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — dropped by 0.48 percent last week, higher than the depreciation rate of 0.28 percent spotted during the previous four weeks.

Editors said minivan, compact luxury crossover/SUV and full-size van segments declined the most by 0.72 percent, 0.69 percent and 0.63 percent, respectively.

Turning next to what Black Book representatives noticed when walking the lanes at about 60 auctions last week, they reported back more sentiments about tax season.

Down in South Carolina, the watcher reported, “Good day at the auction with plenty of consignment and good attendance. Sales were still a bit slow, but tax-time cars were selling well.”

In nearby Tennessee, a similar story played out as Black Book’s representative said, “Sunny and slow today. Retail market isn’t as good as some would like, but it is picking up.”

The pace of sales was modest in a couple of other locations, too. Black Book’s lane observer in Florida said, “There were a lot of vehicles and buyers here today, but sales were not strong.” And up in Illinois, the report was, “Vehicle sales today were around 50 percent with what sold bringing good money. Higher-mile, full-size sport utilities did not sell well today.”

The remaining two Black Book auction observations offered some clarity about what other units are bringing out the auctioneer’s hammer.

In Ohio, “Cloudy today but over positive sentiment towards the market. Sedans, SUVs and trucks all selling well here.” And from California, “Interesting array of vehicles here today, many luxury brands across to hybrid models.”