CARY, N.C. -

Amid some sequential slowing, wholesale vehicle prices closed 2020 with some strength, according to Auto Remarketing’s examination of various indices from around the industry.

Starting with the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, that came in at 161.1 for December. While wholesale prices were off 0.59% from November (mix-, mileage- and seasonally adjusted), last month’s index was 14.2% higher year-over-year.

And the index has now gone five straight months above 160, a streak that includes the record high of 163.7 in August

Breaking it down by a few select segments, pickup prices climbed 28.2% year-over-year in December, according to the Manheim index, and luxury cars were up 20.8%. SUV/CUV prices were up 11.3%, van prices were up 4.1% and compact car prices climbed 2.1%. There was a 0.7% dip in midsize car prices.

“It is clear that there has been a material step change in used-vehicle values whether you look at it from a pure price trend or we gauge used values against new,” Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke said in a news release.

“It will be important going forward to assess if at any point this might imply a correction could happen when the imbalance is no longer so heavily weighted towards demand,” Smoke said. “As we expected, what we have been seeing so far shows no evidence of a correction or one on the horizon.

“Supply remains tight, and demand remains strong despite some softening this fall. While January is a bit of a wild card for the economy, as we get closer to the spring, conditions look to be very favorable for used vehicle values.”

Next up, Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index was down 1.8 points from November, but soared 15.5 points from December 2019, coming in at 128.8.

“The seasonally adjusted Retention Index has remained relatively stable since August,” Black Book senior vice president of data science Alex Yurchenko said in a news release. “Nevertheless, due two record-setting summer months, the year ended with a 15.5-point (or 13.7%) year-over-year change in the Index.

“In fact, only the minivan segment did not have a year-over-year increase in the Index.” 

Drilling down further, J.D. Power Valuation Services indicated in a Used Market Update from Friday that wholesale auction prices dipped 2% week-over-week for the period ending Dec. 27, but then climbed 1.6% the week ending Jan. 3.

That was the largest week-over-week gain in nearly a month, J.D. Power indicated.

With that movement, the most recent wholesale price reading is 22% stronger than the April trough. And they are up 4% from the beginning of March, prior to the pandemic, according to the analysis.

In Black Book’s Weekly Automotive Market Update released Tuesday, the company indicated that wholesale prices have declined “at the seasonally normal rate” for 18 straight weeks.

Overall, they were down 0.8% last week, compared to a 0.46% decline the prior week and the historical average of 0.6%, according to Black Book.

Cars were down 0.91% and trucks/SUVs were down 0.74%.

Black Book did note in the analysis that, “2020 ended with used wholesale prices at the elevated level. With economic patterns (including automotive market) driven by the pandemic, normal seasonal patterns (e.g., 2019 calendar year) in the wholesale market were not observed for most of the year. We saw a similar picture in 2009, at the end of the Great Recession. The question still remains whether we will go back to normal seasonality in 2021.”