The spring bump of March didn’t last long.

Canadian Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index followed that month’s gentle 0.3-point rise with a larger fall in April 2026, dropping 1.7 points to 130.8. That’s down 6.8% from April 2025.

“As new-vehicle sales begin to slow following last year’s fear-driven market frenzy, the used market is reflecting a similar trend,” CBB director of strategic market insights Daniel Ross said. “While used vehicles remain more affordable than new, the slowing pace of sales is leading to increased incentives in the market. We’re beginning to see this trend accelerate, with a resulting impact on lower retained values.

“Consumer demand for cars remains uncertain, and without broader interest from U.S. buyers — particularly for non-domestic branded models — there is little support to maintain the elevated values seen previously.”

In addition, Ross said, the continuing rise of electric vehicles in the used market is having an effect on values.

“The growing supply of used EVs is gradually introducing more lower-retention vehicles into the mix,” said Ross, who has joined the lineup speakers at Canada’s Used Car Week next month. “While incremental, this shift may be enough to dampen any short-term positive outlook for the market.”

The index is based on CBB’s published wholesale average value on 2-6-year-old used vehicles as a percentage of original typically equipped MSRP. It’s weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage and condition.

The downward trend of April picked up a bit more steam as May opened, with CBB’s weekly Market Insights report showing wholesale used-vehicle values down 0.32% across the board for the week ending May 2.

That decline was led by three segments whose prices took precipitous falls: compact vans, down 2.99% ($528), sub-compact cars (2.54%, $263) and full-size vans (1.90%, $637), which have now plummeted almost $2,000 over the past four weeks.

As has been the case for much of the past two months, full-size pickups (up 0.59%, $243) were the market’s strongest segment, gaining value for the third consecutive week and the eighth time in the past 10 weeks. Sporty cars (0.08%, $24) and full-size cars (0.04%, $14) were the only other segments on the positive side.

Auction sales rates ticked up slightly last week, though the monitored average still fell below the 50% mark at 48.3%. Retail prices also inched upward to an average of $37,600.

The U.S. market’s upward momentum of the spring is beginning to slow, Black Book analysts said, with the overall market up just 0.05% and cars down 0.11%, with 2-8-year-old cars declining for a second straight week.

Daneil Ross will be among the auto analysts participating on the “Used-Car Market & Economic Insights to Sharpen Your Strategy” panel at CUCW, which is June 16-17 in Toronto.