Lane watch: Consignors cashing in, while dealers paying up

If the current wholesale market is a Las Vegas blackjack table, consignors are hitting on 18 and still winning while dealers are watching their floorplan money quickly flow to the house.
For the second consecutive week and now eighth time in its data set going back to 2009, values for all 22 vehicle segments tracked by Black Book moved higher compared to the previous week. And for the timeframe ending last Friday, 14 different segments generated price gains of at least 1%.
“This past week saw another round of all segments reporting increases in wholesale values,” Black Book said in its newest Market Update released on Tuesday.
“New- and used-inventory shortages coinciding with the traditional spring/tax season bump, as well as an additional round of stimulus, has led to larger than normal weekly gains in values. With used supply remaining tight, remarketers are raising floors and holding firm,” analysts continued in the report.
Black Book indicated overall car-segment values moved up at nearly the identical pace (1.12% last week versus 1.11% during the prior week).
Full-size cars paced the value gains, jumping 1.57%. Also increasing by at least 1% were subcompact cars (up 1.30%), compact cars (up 1.11%), midsize cars (1.41 cars), near luxury cars (up 1.18%) and sporty cars (up 1.02%).
Overall truck values nearly surpassed the 1% threshold, too, as analysts pegged the price gain at 0.99%.
Black Book pointed out that eight out of the 13 truck segments reported value gains exceeding 1%, with three of those eight categories rising more than 1.50%.
Analysts determined the subcompact crossover segment posted the largest increase among trucks for the third week in a row, jumping 1.59%.
Black Book said values for highly popular full-size trucks have doubled the rate of increase from 0.50% two weeks ago to 1.00% last week.
And values of small pickup trucks are soaring, too, jumping 1.52% this past week after rising 1.06% during the prior week, according to the report.