LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

You know those shoppers who flock to retailers soon after Christmas Day looking for deeply discounted merchandise? Well, it appears dealers are behaving similarly at the auction during the opening days of 2020.

Black Book recapped in its latest installment of Market Insights that stable prices are triggering more buying activity in the lanes.

“The values of used vehicles have been more stable in the new year after the steeper declines late last year,” Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal said in the report.

“Sales conversion rates are reported to be higher in the auctions as dealers take advantage of the lower prices before the spring buying kicks in,” Goyal continued.

Looking deeper into the latest data beginning with volume-weighted car information, analysts found that overall car segment values decreased by 0.44% last week. That’s a bit lower than what Black Book spotted on average during the previous four weeks at 0.58%.

Among cars, Black Book indicated values of compact cars and sporty cars declined the most, softening by 0.67% and 0.64%, respectively.

Turning next to trucks, analysts explained their volume-weighted showed overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) declined by 0.56% last week. That nearly mirrored the four-week average that Black Book pegged at 0.57%.

Within trucks, Black Book determined values of compact vans, sub-compact luxury crossover/SUVs and compact luxury crossover/SUVs dropped the most, sliding by 1.50%, 1.05%, and 1.05%, respectively.

Finally, the anecdotes that Black Book representatives stationed at nearly 60 sales nationwide reflected what dealers are doing as 2020 gains momentum. Here is the rundown:

— From Georgia: “Sales rates were strong and prices stable to strong on most vehicles. The supply was fairly low with many lanes running out of vehicles early in the day.”

— From Michigan: “The dealer lane that I watched had a good mix of inexpensive to midrange priced vehicles, and their conversion percentages were higher than some of the top-selling commercial lanes, which usually sell at a very high percentage.”

— From Florida: “Overall, it appears as if the market has stabilized, and we also had more 2019s selling than we have before. The truck inventory was high today, which resulted in lower sold prices.”