STAMFORD, Conn. -

The RVI Group spotted the same wholesale price climb other analysts noticed in March as the RVI Used Car Price Index moved higher both month-over-month and year-over-year.

Analysts determined the March index reading ascended to 1.454, up 2.3 percent from the previous month’s level of 1.422. The March reading also marked a 7.9-percent jump from the same month a year earlier when it was 1.348.

RVI pointed out “smaller vehicle segments showed strong gains,” as five categories posted month-over-month price increases of at least 3.5 percent. That cluster included:

—Compact: up 4.4 percent month-over-month, 9.4 percent year-over-year.
—Small Sedan: up 3.9 percent month-over-month, 7.9 percent year-over-year.
—Midsize SUV: up 3.8 percent month-over-month, 5.4 percent year-over-year.
—Sub Compact: up 3.6 percent month-over-month, 12.1 percent year-over-year.
—Small Pickup: up 3.5 percent month-over-month, 4.9 percent year-over-year.

Like sub compacts, RVI noticed four other vehicle segments with double-digit price climbs from March of last year. That group included luxury coupes (13.7 percent higher), luxury full-size sedans (12.4 percent higher), full-size pickups (11.4 percent higher) and full-size SUVs (13.3 percent higher).

Not all of RVI’s latest wholesale analysis had to do with price gains in March. Three segments softened in price month-over-month. Included in those declines were sports cars (down 1.3 percent), full-size SUVs (down 0.7 percent) and full-size pickups (down 0.7 percent).

Firm analysts also touched on new-vehicle prices, too.

“New-vehicle prices increased for the first time in eight months and remain up compared to last year’s prices,” RVI explained.

“New-vehicle prices (transaction prices), on a seasonally adjusted basis, are up 0.61 percent from January to February. New-vehicle prices have increased 3.0 percent since February 2011,” the firm concluded.