LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

After a spate of no-sales two weeks ago, lane watchers from Black Book reported more robust conditions at auctions throughout the U.S. last week.

“Sales were better today than last week, with units $12,000 and under selling the best,” said one in Tennessee.

Also in this week’s Market Insights report, a Black Book rep in Pennsylvania reported a “steady market” with domestic trucks selling the best, and one in Illinois said activity and prices were up over the prior week.

An auction spotter in Washington said that “there was more available volume today, but the market has gotten softer here.”

And in Texas, a rep did report “lots of no sales today in the dealer lanes, but the lease lanes performed well.”

Depreciation ramps up

Heading into the fourth quarter, both cars and trucks saw steeper price declines last week compared to the previous four weeks.

Volume-weighted, overall car segment values decreased by 0.80 percent, higher than the depreciation rate of 0.69 percent seen in the previous four weeks.

Truck values, meanwhile, decreased by 0.76 percent, which was higher than the depreciation rate of 0.57 percent seen in the previous four weeks.

Among the former category, midsize cars and sporty cars declined the most, by 1.20 percent and 0.88 percent, respectively.

Among trucks, most crossover SUV segments declined in value, with full-size crossover values dropping the most by 1.12 percent.

“Typical seasonality trend of the higher depreciation in the fourth quarter continues,” said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics for Black Book. “Crossover/SUV values, which have been strong all year, are also starting to see steeper declines.”

Past seasonality trends show that vehicle depreciation tends to be highest during the fourth quarter. This year appears consistent with that trend, except that the retention values for 2-year-old vehicles are lower this year than the trends in the previous four years.