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GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Black Book revealed a couple of distinct dealer sentiments as editors conducted their usual gathering of commentary while strolling through auction lanes nationwide. The majority of dealer feedback reflected a positive outlook on wholesale and retail activity. However, it does appear some concerns are persisting.

"The comments from the dealers at the auctions this past week and from many of the Black Book survey personnel varied greatly," managing editor Ricky Beggs shared during his weekly "Beggs on the Used Car Market" video report.

"Several said that demand is holding steady with more dealers than not being very upbeat about the wholesale and retail activity," he continued. "It seemed that many continue to feel the real stability in the market is in the vehicles priced between the $7,000 to the $10,000 to 12,000 range."

Black Book proposed a reason why dealers think stability resides in that price range.

"The overall economic conditions and consumer confidence probably plays a big part in this market priced level," Beggs offered.

"Several dealers also mentioned that they were watching inventory for both volume and price, as they focused on the market reaction as we enter the end of model-year season," he added.

Editors also revealed another trend they saw as reflective of some of the dealer comments from the past week.

"There were an additional 274 average condition vehicle values adjusted as compared to the clean condition vehicle values this past week," Beggs stated.

"Even in a softer market, we have always witnessed really nice, clean vehicles will have more interest, more bidders and stronger values," he went on to say.

In terms of all vehicle adjustments, Black Book determined last week was the second in a row where the number of vehicles with raises in the values adjusted came in within the mid-20 percent range. Editors mentioned this circumstance previously occurred in consecutive weeks during the last week of May and the first week of June.

Prior to that time period, Black Book indicated there was a 16-week stretch from Oct. 9, 2009 through Jan. 22, 2010 that included limited adjustment increases. Beggs also pointed out that nine of these 16 weeks, there were even single-digit-percentage increases.

Editors noticed car segments continue to be the softer category types. With all 10 car segment types falling below the baseline, Black Book determined the overall car change was a decrease of $49 for the week.

Black Book also found that prestige luxury cars have declined the most for the past three weeks. However the two car types with the most stability and smallest adjustments are subcompact cars — which dropped down by $18 — and sporty cars — which slipped by $22.

Beggs emphasized that the truck segments continue to be garnering plenty of attention. He said it's why he and Black Book senior truck editor Kevin Giddens have spent so much time on these units recently. 

Moving on, the company discovered that minivans in cargo configurations dropped by $52. However, overall the 14 truck segments decreased by $13 for the week.

With 2011 units ready to fill dealer showrooms, Black Book has added an additional 36 vehicle listings for 2010 models with initial market driven values over the past week.

"The 2010s and 2009s continue to be the toughest sell in the wholesale arena as the relation to the new models is pretty competitive," Beggs explained.

"With the overall very limited supply of used models, and the price level of the late-model used vehicles being so strong, the monthly payment of new versus used continues to be a factor in dealers not wanting to speculate on the late-model vehicle," he continued.

"As we have turned the pages of more than half of the 2010 calendar, we are now heading toward the fall and the introduction of the majority of the new model year 2011s," Beggs went on to highlight. "As this occurs we would normally expect there to be softening in the market, especially on the later model years."