The reprieve is over. And yet, not all is bleak in the Canada’s wholesale used-vehicle market.

Yes, Canadian Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index for February sank 1.2 points from January to 132.2 and was down 4.8% — that’s 6.7 points — year-over-year.

But CBB senior manager of industry insights and residual value strategy Daniel Ross, who called last month’s slight rise in the index a “reprieve” in an overall negative trajectory, still saw some rays of sunshine in February’s metrics.

“While negativity surrounds the used-car market compared to this time last year, pockets of positivity can still be observed,” he said. “In specific light truck segments — namely pick-ups and mid-size to full-size crossovers — we’ve seen trends that provide context.

“While auction lane conversion rates have struggled, our neighbors to the south have expressed particular interest in areas where they can avoid tariff-implicated used inventory. This has provided valuable insight to our wholesale analysts, identifying key contributors to value growth in the untraditional spring market we’ve arrived at.”

To be fair, that big year-over-year drop is in part a product of a jump in values early last year fueled by worries over tariffs, a rise that lasted through May. Since then, the CBB index has fallen every month except last month.

The Canadian Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index is calculated using CBB’s published wholesale average value on 2- to 6-year-old used vehicles, as a percent of original typically equipped MSRP. It is weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage and condition.

As Ross noted, truck/SUV segments helped lift wholesale values for the last week of February to a modest overall loss of 0.45%, according to CBB’s weekly Market Insights report, following a 0.60% decline the previous week. And as Ross noted, the segments that held their values best were small pickups (up 0.49%, $138), full-size pickup (up 0.25%, $82), mid-size crossover/SUVs (up 0.08%, $19) and full-size crossovers (down 0.08%, $30).

While truck/SUV segments were down 0.34% for the week, cars took a larger 0.58% tumble, paced by compact cars (1.16%, $163), sub-compacts (0.97%, $89), luxury cars (0.88%, $335) and near luxury cars (0.86%, $233). Prestige luxury cars took the largest dollar loss at $415 (0.69%).

CBB reported auction sale rates fell to an average of 46.8%, ranging from 26.7% to 78.9%, while auction inventory returned to normal levels with a small uptick following a decline the week before. Retail prices inched up to a 14-day moving average of $37,100.

The U.S. market gained 0/22% for the week, with newer units and compact crossovers leading the charge. Analysts said sporty cars (up 0.43%), and 0-to-2-year-old mid-size cars (0.53%) continued to build momentum. The auction conversion rate soared to 66%, which Black Book said reflected “active buyer participation, particularly for clean late-model inventory, while older and luxury units saw more selective demand.”