LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

The latest Market Insights report from Black Book shows that while value declines slowed a bit last week, auction no-sales remained high.

“Depreciation rate slows from steeper declines seen at the start of the quarter,” said Black Book’s Anil Goyal. “Smaller cars continue to show larger depreciation as opposed to larger crossover/SUVs.”

Volume weighted, overall car segment values decreased by 0.46 percent last week, which was lower than the rate of 0.70 percent seen in the previous four weeks.

Prestige luxury cars and subcompact cars declined the most, by 0.87 percent and 0.68 percent, respectively. Midsize cars and near-luxury cars showed the best retention, both declining by 0.40 percent.

Volume weighted, overall truck segment values decreased by 0.34 percent, which was lower than the depreciation rate of 0.58 percent seen in the previous four weeks.

Compact vans declined the most at 2.18 percent; other segments with a higher drop in value included full-size vans and small pickups. Subcompact crossover values, on the other hand, showed no change, and full-size crossover/SUV values dropped by a scant 0.07 percent.

The report took a look at retention rate trends for full-size crossover/SUVs, which showed consistency during the last six years. For the 2013 model year, the retention rate of these vehicles in November 2015 was 61 percent. For MY2014, the retention rate for the current month dropped only a little, to 59 percent.

As they do each week, Black book editors and personnel fanned out across the country to get a sense of what is happening at auctions.

Here are some of their observations:

  • Good market trend at this location, with SUVs leading in demand. (California)
  • Dealer lanes were slow today and the market is slightly down compared to this location last week (Texas)
  • Plenty of no-sales here today but a huge selection of cars available. (Tennessee)
  • Stable market here with clean, good-history units in demand. (Florida)
  • Consignment was about normal today but there was a high percentage of no-sales. (Pennsylvania)
  • Low vehicle count today with lots of higher-mileage units. Prices were down on most. (Washington)