ATLANTA -

In what ended up being another record for the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index on the wholesale side, it was a bit of a mixed bag for rates on the used retail sales side during October.

Manheim parent company Cox Automotive said in a report on the index that used-car retail sales fell an estimated 0.3 percent year-over-year.  However, there was nearly a 1-percent gain in the annualized used-car sales pace, Cox said.

That strength was pushed by franchised dealers and sales between private parties, whose annualized sales paces were up 1 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

But the used-car SAAR of 38.1 million was off just a bit from October 2017, which was at 38.2 million.

In the certified pre-owned slice of the retail used market, look for another increase and record sales this year. In data shared by the company, Cox Automotive senior economist Charlie Chesbrough estimates this year’s CPO sales tally will reach 2.70 million, which would be up from 2.64 million a year ago.

In an early, preliminary projection, look for 2.72 million CPO sales next year.

Price index climbs 3.4 percent

October showed wholesale prices climbing 0.72 percent from September, according to the report. The resulting Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index reached 140.9, which was another all-time high. It also beat the year-ago reading by 3.4 percent. 

This was the fourth straight month of a record high in the index. 

“Looking at trends in weekly Manheim Market Report (MMR) prices, October saw continued normalizing depreciation. Even after that normalization, 3-year-old vehicles ended October worth 3.5 percent more than they would normally have been worth had typical depreciation occurred instead of the abnormal appreciation observed this summer,” the company said in the report.

With overall prices up 3.4 percent year-over-year, compact cars had the most growth from October 2017 at 6 percent. Vans were next (up 5 percent), followed by midsize cars (up 4.2 percent).

Pickups climbed 2.5 percent, SUVs/CUVs were up 1.6 percent, and luxury car prices fell 2.2 percent.