LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Fashion-forward used-car managers likely already know that wearing white after Labor Day isn’t frowned upon like it used to be.

Black Book is seeing another trend after Labor Day in the wholesale market that’s different from what dealers often have seen in past years, especially if they’re looking for late models that could serve as a substitute for buyers seeking a new vehicle.

“Traditionally, as we move past Labor Day, values begin to decline with the largest portion of the yearly depreciation typically occurring in the fourth quarter,” analysts said in the newest Market Insights from Black Book released on Tuesday.

“However, that is not the case this year, we’ve now had four consecutive weeks of overall market increases in wholesale values,” analysts continued in the report. “With new inventory not expected to improve until later into 2022, wholesale prices are anticipated to remain at elevated levels for the foreseeable future.”

While overall readings moved higher again during the week that closed on Saturday, Black Book noticed more significant action within 2- to 8-year-old vehicles, which increased in value by 0.38% as well as models less than 2 years old, which jumped in value by 0.51%.

Carving out a look at just cars, Black Book indicated that overall car segment prices on a volume-weighted basis increased 0.43% last week. That value gain surpassed what analysts spotted a week earlier when the rise came in at 0.31%.

Black Book noticed that six of the nine car segments generated value gains last week, with midsize car leading the way with a jump of 0.81%.

The only car segments to report value declines often are more in demand during the summer, including sporty cars (down 0.47%), premium sporty cars (down 0.07%) and prestige luxury car (down 0.02%).

Also of note and mentioned during the previous installment of Lane Watch, Black Book said values for compact cars now have increased for five weeks in a row with the latest rise being 0.73%.

Turning next to overall truck segment trends, Black Book pointed out that its volume-weighted data showed values increased 0.36%, representing quite a jump from the previous increase of just 0.09%.

Models that can serve individuals and families posted the largest value gains as sub-compact crossovers rose 0.92% and compact crossovers increased 0.75%.

Only one truck segment experienced a decline as full-size luxury crossovers/SUVs softened by 0.10%.

Finally, values for the workhorses of the commercial world continue to climb, as Black Book said full-size vans (up 0.43%) are a standout segment with 33 of the last 34 weeks reporting increases for an average weekly increase of 0.54%.