LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Black Book suspects the current surge in coronavirus cases happening nationwide likely will impact one particular segment of the wholesale market.

Analysts pinpointed the specific area in their latest COVID-19 Market Insights report released on Tuesday, saying, “New restrictions have gone into place around the country, and this has and will continue to have an impact on the auction lanes.

“As COVID-19 cases surge and consumers are encouraged to stay home during the holiday season, the rental business is expected to suffer,” analysts continued in the newest report. “We anticipate this will lead to additional volume of rental units hitting the lanes before the end of the year.”

For dealers who like to acquire off-rental vehicles for their inventories, that projection coupled with the latest wholesale value movements might be helpful.

Looking first at Black Book’s volume-weighted car information, analysts determined overall car segment values decreased 0.31% over the last week, an improvement from the depreciation reading of 0.82% they noticed a week earlier.

Black Book said many sellers held firm to floors, especially in they dealer lanes.

Analysts added values of compact cars continue to experience heavy declines week-over-week, softening another 0.61% last week after declining 1.43% during the previous week.

Black Book also noticed another trend in the car space that could benefit high-line dealerships.

“The biggest change in the lanes this past week was the drop in floor pricing by some of the largest luxury sellers, and this was reflected in the adjustments of the luxury segments,” analysts said.

“These segments have been unseasonably strong, with sellers holding out longer on making floor adjustments compared to their mainstream counterparts,” Black Book continued.

Turning next to the truck arena, Black Book’s volume-weighted data showed that overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — dropped 0.38% last week, representing a small update from the previous week’s decrease of 0.35%. 

Like what they did when sending cars down the lanes, Black Book indicated luxury OEM consignors adjusted floors last week, too, as evident by the value softening of compact luxury crossovers of 0.70%. A week earlier, analysts said those particular units dipped by just 0.20%.

Black Book closed by touching on units many dealers seek when working the lanes.

“Full-size pickups have been a strong spot in the market due to limited new inventory, but week-over-week depreciations are showing small signs of increasing,” analysts said, noting that these values dropped by 0.39% last week after sliding 0.30% a week earlier.