In the wholesale car market, the “spring bounce” was more like the long jump this year.

Driven by tariff-hurried demand, prices leapt, pushing the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index to its highest level in 18 months, according to Cox Automotive.

“The ‘spring bounce’ normally ends the second week of April, but this year, wholesale appreciation trends continued for the entire month and were much stronger than we typically observe,” Cox Automotive senior director of economic and industry insights Jeremy Robb said in an analysis around the index.

“We expected to see strong price appreciation in response to the tariffs, and that’s exactly what came. Weekly trends showed higher values as we moved through the month, but those increases tapered off each successive week.”

The Manheim index came in at 208.2 for April, which was 4.9% higher year-over-year and beat March levels by 2.7%, when adjusted for mix, mileage and seasonality.

Unadjusted, wholesale prices were up 4.3% from April 2024 and 3.3% from March, Cox Automotive said.

Meanwhile, Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index came in at 149.3, up 0.9% from March and down 0.5% from April 2024.

“The wholesale market performed strongly in April, with gains surpassing the usual seasonal trends, driving an increase in the Index,” said Laura Wehunt, Black Book’s vice president of data & analytics. “The implementation of tariffs on automotive imports into the U.S. created uncertainty, prompting dealers to turn to auctions to secure quality used vehicles.

“The anticipation that new-car MSRPs would rise due to the tariffs, coupled with reduced new-vehicle inventory, including manufacturers holding vehicles at ports hoping the tariffs would be temporary — intensified demand for used cars. This speculation drove up values, with some single-week spikes reminiscent of the microchip shortage disruptions that impacted the industry in 2021.”

Looking forward, Robb at Cox Automotive, noted: “Used retail sales remain stronger than normal, and wholesale days’ supply is a bit tighter, so we will likely see less depreciation than normal over Q2. As we move into the second half of the year, though, the auto market may slow as strong demand likely pulled some transactions forward in March and April as buyers tried to get ahead of expected higher prices due to tariffs.”