CARMEL, Ind. -

One of the signature moves by ESPN college football commentator Lee Corso when trying to emphasize a point includes holding up a pencil and telling his colleagues on the TV program, “Not so fast, my friend!”

Well, KAR Global chief economist Tom Kontos did a bit of an impersonation this week when sharing the company’s wholesale price information for May.

According to KAR Global Analytical Services’ monthly analysis of wholesale used-vehicle prices by vehicle model class, wholesale prices in May averaged $11,743, representing a rise of 22.1% compared to April and 0.7% relative to May of last year.

“When looked at on an aggregated basis, wholesale used vehicle prices in May appeared to more than make up for losses in March and April resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kontos said in his latest installment of the Kontos Kommentary.

“However, with the remarketing industry having undergone significant changes in sales volumes and composition, aggregated numbers often mask lingering weakness in wholesale prices relative to pre-COVID levels that are revealed when disaggregating the data by sale type, model year, model class, etc,” he continued.

“Auctions are selling proportionately more younger, lower-mileage, higher-dollar units, with more sales from commercial consignors than dealer consignors, including more factory and captive finance sales,” Kontos went on to say. “This ‘richer mix’ of vehicles is biasing average prices upward. And sales volumes in May were 75% of year-ago and pre-COVID/February levels, thus representing a more restricted picture of total market conditions.

“Nevertheless, wholesale prices in May did experience a significant rebound and represented a healthy balance between offered supply and dealer demand,” he added.

KAR Global also reported average wholesale prices for used vehicles remarketed by manufacturers in May rose 12.8% month-over-month and up 4.8% year-over-year.

The company said prices for fleet/lease consignors jumped 27.3% sequentially in May but edged 0.1% lower year-over-year.

Finally, KAR Global said average prices in May for dealer consignors climbed 15.3% versus April but declined 3.6% relative to May of last year.

KAR Global also added more information to its regular chart to show pre-COVID-19 metrics.

KAR Global Wholesale Used-Vehicle Price Trends
   Average  Price    ($/Unit)  Latest  Month  Versus
   May 2020  April 2020 February 2020  May 2019  Prior Month Pre-COVID-19  Prior Year
               
 Total All Vehicles  $11,743  $9,621  $11,338  $11,667  22.1%  3.6%  0.7%
               
 Total Cars  $8,624  $6,913  $8,360  $8,945  24.7%  3.2%  -3.6%
 Compact Car  $6,277  $5,221  $6,535  $6,800  20.2%  -3.9%  -7.7%
 Midsize Car  $7,365  $5,880  $7,317  $7,690  25.3%  0.7%  -4.2%
 Full-size Car  $8,980  $7,217  $7,765  $8,142  24.4%  15.6%  10.3%
 Luxury Car  $13,419  $10,699  $12.656  $13,863  25.4%  6.0%  -3.2%
 Sporty Car  $15,740  $12,899  $13,874  $14,946  22.0%  13.4%  5.3%
               
 Total Trucks  $14,036  $11,683  $13,529  $13,828  20.1%  3.8%  1.5%
 Minivan  $8,735  $7,279  $8,286  $8,581  20.0%  5.4%  1.8%
 Full-size Van  $11,478  $8,852  $13,176  $12,988  29.7%  -12.9%  -11.6%
 Compact SUV/CUV  $11,199  $9,661  $10,995  $11,393  15.9%  1.9%  -1.7%
 Midsize SUV/CUV  $12,606  $10,381  $12.273  $12,199  21.4%  2.7%  3.3%
 Full-size SUV/CUV  $16,725  $12,794  $16,352  $15,482  30.7%  2.3%  8.0%
 Luxury SUV/CUV  $19,624  $16,472  $18,713  $19,381  19.1%  4.9%  1.3%
 Compact Pickup  $11,863  $10,299  $11,268  $11,023  15.2%  5.3%  7.6%
 Full-size Pickup  $17,235  $14,618  $16,385  $17,172  17.9%  5.2%  0.4%

Source: KAR Global Analytical Services.