Preparing for the Presidents Day weekend might have been a prelude to how this year’s spring market might behave.

Black Book arrived at that assessment as part of this week’s Market Insights report that looked also at how spring is taking hold of the market with overall car retention coming in just slightly stronger than trucks.

“The depreciation rates on used vehicles improved a little last week. Bidding in auction lanes was strong ahead of Presidents Day,” Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal said in the latest report.

Volume-weighted, editors determined overall car segment values decreased by 0.37 percent last week. In comparison, Black Book pointed out that the market values for cars had softened by 0.56 percent on average during the prior four-week period.

In the car space, editors noticed the luxury car and sporty car segments experienced the biggest drops, sliding by 0.64 percent and 0.61 percent, respectively.

Moving on to trucks, Black Book determined that values for the overall segment (including pickups, SUVs and vans) on a volume-weighted basis dipped by 0.38 percent last week. During the previous four-month span, that decrease averaged 0.48 percent.

Among trucks, editors mentioned compact luxury crossover/SUVs experienced the biggest drop, declining by 0.95 percent or $170.

Turning next to what Black Book’s representatives noticed in the lanes when attending about 60 sales nationwide each week, observers noticed typical situations dealers face in February. Here is the rundown:

—From South Carolina: “The auction was packed with dealers, and prices were stable. Bidding was active, and most of the no-sales were due to unrealistic floors.”

—From Indiana: “Consignment was low, and nice vehicles are scarce, which made for a typical February sale which involves sporadic sales in the lanes.”

—From Florida: “Dealers are looking for vehicles with low miles and a clean history report. They say that retail is slow but improving.”

—From Massachusetts: “SUVs in the $10,000 to $20,000 range attracted the most attention and bids. The consignors said that the market improved slightly from last week, which is positive news.”