With the Fourth of July holiday within striking distance, Black Book is seeing typical depreciation patterns common for this time of year.
Editors noted in this week’s Black Book Market Insights report that overall depreciation remained in check as prices for a handful of car and truck segments were unchanged or even increased a little.
“Overall depreciation rates are stable for car and truck segments for this time of the year. Midsize cars did experience a higher drop last week,” said Anil Goyal, executive vice president of operations at Black Book.
Volume-weighted, editors indicated that overall car segment values decreased by 0.35 percent last week. In comparison, these values had decreased on average by 0.23 percent per week in the previous four weeks.
As Goyal mentioned, Black Book found that prices for midsize and compact cars decreased the most among car segments, softening by 0.62 percent or $57 and 0.51 percent or $42, respectively.
Again volume-weighted, editors pointed out that overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — dipped by 0.28 percent last week. That figure represents a jump from values decreasing by 0.14 percent on average per week during the previous four weeks.
Among truck segments, Black Book noticed prices for compact luxury crossover/SUVs and minivans declined the most last week, dropping by 0.50 percent or $99 and 0.45 percent or $58, respectively.
Turning next to what Black Book representatives spotted in the lanes last week, much of the sales recaps originated from the buyer perspective, including:
— From Georgia: “It was a better day to be a seller than a buyer as prices remain pretty strong. Buyers continue to purchase vehicles without much concern over the condition of the vehicle.”
— From Colorado: “Buyers are at the auctions, but there aren’t enough cars to satisfy the demand.”
— From Massachusetts: “Every dealer and captive consignor said the money was good and even better than last week.”
— From North Carolina: “A buyer said that his buy-here, pay-here business is better than it has been in many years.”
The final anecdote of the week came from a Black Book representative stationed in Texas describing buyers from more than 1,000 miles away.
“A very successful dealer in Pennsylvania says that he is having difficulty sourcing the type of vehicles that he retails. His sweet spot is the 4- to 7-year old, low-mileage vehicle,” the lane watcher in the Lone Star State said.
