GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Business in the lanes this past week was reported as being “pretty steady” with an increasing number of price hikes, according to Black Book’s Ricky Beggs.

The managing editor explained in his latest, “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report that, last week, the average number of vehicles adjusted each day was 1,840.

“Since the first of December, except for the week of Christmas, this is the lowest daily adjustment amount,” Beggs added.

But though the number of adjustments is on the way down, the percentage of price increases of all those adjustments “returned to a relatively high level” again this past week at 36 percent, Beggs shared.

This is in line with last year, where during the same period price increases accounted for 34 percent of total adjustments.

“If the historical market is an indicator the coming weeks’ percentage of increases will be significantly higher. But let’s hold back before we make such a bold prediction that we will match last year’s level of increases,” Beggs said.

Breaking down the numbers by segment, for cars, the overall average segment price declined by $62 as compared to the previous week when it fell by $40.

Individually, seven of the 10 car segments declined a greater amount than the previous week, Beggs shared.

The car segments that found the biggest declines this past week were the premium luxury cars, declining by 0.83 percent, and the luxury level cars, falling 0.48 percent.

On the other hand, the car segments doing better this week, according to Beggs, were the upper midsize cars which fell by only $30; near-luxury cars, which fell by $18; and prestige sporty cars, down by 0.26 percent, or $101.

“Since the calendar turned to 2013 the most consistent and lowest adjusting segment has been the entry-level cars that have changed by -$11 and -$10 for the last two weeks,” Beggs shared, wrapping his commentary on the car segments up for this past week.

As for the truck segments, they took what Beggs called a “slightly bigger hit” this past week, falling an average of $36, or 0.27 percent.

That said, four of the 14 truck segments were more stable than the previous week, with the biggest improvement being the compact pickup truck. Its prices which fell by $18, or 0.18 percent. Just two weeks ago, this segment fell by $53.

The other two pickup segments, the midsize pickup and the full-size pickup, showed week-over-week improvement with smaller declines. The midsize class was down by $36 and the full-size class dipped $15.

Beggs also noted that the full-size vans, cargo and passenger versions, have seen price increases for the past five weeks.

“We are watching closely to see how long this increasing run continues,” Beggs concluded.

To view the whole report, see below: