GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Black Book collected a mixed bag of dealer commentary from more than 100 auction sites last week, leveraging its ability to get first-hand information through various methods.

Before delving into specifics, Ricky Beggs recapped how Black Book gathers its dealer feedback.

“It’s been another busy week for our editorial team as we have watched online or physically attended, almost 40 auction sales this week, which goes along with the 62 auctions attended by our survey team,” the managing editor shared during his latest edition of the video blog, “Beggs on the Used Car Market."

Beggs continued, “We also received and included in our analysis actual sold vehicle information from an additional 21 separate data feeds that covered even more auction locations.

“The various comments we heard at auctions and through the survey personnel reports from across the country truly covered all aspects of activity,” Beggs emphasized. “We heard that ‘dealer consignment lanes struggled,’ and ‘there were more no-sales within the 2011 and 2012 models.’ From opposite sides of the country we heard, “full-size pickups and full-size SUVs are not selling well,’ to the ‘economy cars are in demand.’”

If that dealer commentary wasn’t enough, Beggs touched on a couple of other elements he and the rest of the Black Book team discovered.

“Another interesting comment raised the thought that it has been a challenge during the tight supply of used vehicles over the past couple of years to obtain the right vehicle mix,” Beggs shared.

“We also heard that aggressive bidding has continued to slack off,” he went on to say. “That was evident as the percentage of increases within the adjustments was less than 50 percent for the first time within the past nine weeks with this past week at 44 percent.”

Looking first at cars, Black Book determined wholesale prices for these units dipped $13 overall a week ago, which Beggs computed into a “meager” 0.1-percent decline.

“It was a more stable car market across the segment types as the range of adjustments within the segments was the smallest since February,” Beggs pointed out.

Black Book indicated prices for premium sporty cars dropped the most last week, declining by $96. Meanwhile, editors noticed compact car prices increased by $13 while prices for entry sporty cars softened by $20.

Moving over to trucks, overall prices dipped by $14 or 0.11 percent, according to Black Book.

Editors noticed prices for full-size crossovers (up $46) and full-size SUVs ($34) increased the most a week ago.

“The full-size SUVs are now on an eight-week run of increasing average change,” Beggs mentioned. The remaining five increasing segment types were all single-digit increases.

“The Luxury SUVs still led the declining segments at drop of $119 for the past week, which was significantly less of a decline than the previous weekly change,” he added.

Beggs also reviewed a topic he has discussed in recent video posts — gas prices — noting that the small decline was a positive for transportation expenses.

Black Book reported the price per gallon of fuel dropped 5 cents week over week to a national average of $3.87, marking a 7-cent drop in the last month and bringing the level to the lowest since the week of March 19.

“Let’s hope this declining trend continues,” Beggs declared.

Beggs wrapped up his latest commentary by touching on the other activity Black Book has been engaged in tracking besides what’s going on at auctions.

“During the week I had the opportunity to talk with the leading group of fleet management companies that specialize in working with the transportation needs of small businesses, those who might need from five to 50 units, as part of the annual NVLA Conference,” Beggs recapped.

“Their insight into the market helps us understand some of the market trends and issues that many of you face in your buying, remarketing, and inventory management needs and efforts,” he stressed.

“I also spent part of one day with a group of hands-on people who provide dealer valuing solutions, and getting to know how they are seeing the market,” Beggs also shared. “Couple these two events with also meeting with the fleet, remarketing, and CPO teams of a manufacturer who visited our offices, and I must say it has kept us busy and focused on the current market.

“As this week progresses, we will be on the auction lanes where the market is established, reporting the trends and changes,” Beggs pledged. “We welcome your comments as to how you see the market. Will we hear again, as one dealer in Texas said, ‘It’s a seller’s market. There are no bargains here.’

“Have a great week,” Beggs concluded.

Beggs’ video can be viewed below.