LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

As a used-car manager, perhaps you might be thinking, “Well, if I’m going to have to spend this much on inventory, at least those cars will turn fast.”

But as ESPN college football broadcaster Lee Corso says, “Not so fast, my friend!”

The latest installment of Market Insights from Black Book showed more increases in wholesale values. No surprise, right? But analysts also noticed a gradual rise in the number of days it takes for used inventory to turn at dealerships.

“Days to turn for used retail listings have been increasing, as retail demand softened over the last few weeks,” Black Book said in the newest report. “The days to turn now sits just above 34 days, which is still lower than what is typically expected in a normal year.”

That current level still has to rise quite a bit to go to approach what dealers experienced in March when Black Book pegged the days-to-turn reading at almost 42 days. It’s also still far off the level Black Book noticed in May of last year when day to turn reached 52 days.

And what about wholesale prices? Well, those abnormal readings are continuing as we descend into the heart of autumn and the previously referenced college football season.

During the week that closed on Saturday, analysts said overall wholesale values rose another 0.48%. That’s quite counter to the average they saw during the same week in 2017 through 2019 when prices softened by 0.27%

“The market continued to make gains this past week, marking the fourth consecutive week of overall wholesale value increases,” Black Book said. All segments reported increases, except for sporty cars.

“Sporty cars typically begin to decline as the weather starts to cool, so maybe one segment will be behaving ‘normally’ this fall,” analysts added.

Prices for those sporty cars softened by 0.11%, extending a stretch of 13 consecutive weeks of decreases.

Meanwhile, prices in the rest of the car space are going counter to that trend, as Black Book’s volume-weighted information showed overall car segment values increased 0.57%.

Not only did car prices typically in dealer inventory rise above the level with midsize cars jumping 0.86% and compact cars increasing 0.83%, Black Book saw values for more elaborate cars climbing significantly, too, with near luxury units climbing 0.66% and luxury models moving 0.70% higher.

And what about trucks? Black Book’s volume weighted data indicated all 13 segments rose in value, pushing the overall reading up by 0.43%.

Analysts said prices minivans rose another 0.75%, marking 30 of the past 35 weeks these vehicles have gained in value. The average during that stretch has been a jump of 0.71%.