LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Higher prices. Fewer units flowing through the wholesale market. Vehicles in rougher condition.

The challenges for dealership used-car managers are as steep as ever, as recapped in the latest Market Insights from Black Book released on Tuesday.

While values didn’t rise quite as much last week as they had earlier in April, analysts said wholesale prices still jumped another 1.34% a week ago.

And if you want to romanticize about the “good old days” being just 24 to 48 months ago, Black Book reported the average value gain during the same week in 2017 through 2019 was just 0.12%.

What a wholesale world we’re now navigating, right?

“Condition of units is trending toward the ‘edgier’ side with damage, dash lights illuminated, and/or vehicles running on red and yellow lights,” Black Book said in its newest report. “There is also a noticeable increase in the number of vehicles being offered for sale with open recalls.”

And Black Book alluded to the supply situation being similar to what experts from other firms are saying, too.

“Remarketers are expecting their shortage of available units to last well into the summer,” Black Book said. “Reduced rental returns to the market and lack of substantial volume of repossessions continue to have the largest impact on the wholesale supply levels.”

But dealers still need vehicles to retail. Here’s what they’re paying at auction, according to Black Book’s newest metrics.

Overall car values rose 1.60% last week, a bit below the 1.79% surge they made during the week earlier.

Eight of the nine car segments generated price increases of at least 1.00% with compact cars soaring past 2% for the third week in a row and four out of the past five. The latest value climb for compact cars was 2.30%.

Prestige luxury cars was the only segment to have a price gain below 1.00%, yet still rising 0.72%. By comparison, values for those units during the same week in 2019 declined 0.29%.

After setting a weekly price increase record of 1.73%, Black Book determined overall truck values rose 1.48% last week with all 13 segments moving higher. Seven truck segments increased more than 1.00% with sub-compact crossovers (up 2.14%) posting their fourth week in a row of increases exceeding 2%.

Also of note, analysts pointed out that prices for full-size trucks increased another 1.75%, while values for minivans increased 1.83%.