Lane watch: Weekly price increases finally stop at 23 in a row

And then after 23 consecutive weeks, wholesale prices finally dipped ever so slightly.

On Tuesday, Black Book spotted the first value decrease since January during the week that closed on Saturday as the United States prepared to celebrate the Fourth of July on the following day.

Perhaps used-car managers weren’t setting off fireworks over the development since analysts pegged the overall price decline at just 0.04%.

“Wholesale values are finally starting to simmer down,” Black Book said in its latest installment of Market Insights. “But make no mistake, supply channels haven’t been restored, and the market remains strong.

“The rate of positive-adjustment decreased throughout June, resulting in the first overall weekly decline since mid-January,” analysts continued in the latest report.

According to its volume-weighted data, Black Book noticed that prices for subcompact cars moved quite counter to the overall trend, actually rising by 0.70%, the second most of any car or truck segment that analysts track each week.

Black Book pointed out that five car segments softened in price week-over-week, led by compact cars with a drop of 0.49%. Collectively dropping in value less than what you might have spent on cold beverages for the holiday weekend were midsize cars, near luxury cars, luxury cars and sporty cars.

Looking next at volume-weighted data for trucks, Black Book determined the overall reading came in just 0.02% lower since movements by the truck and SUV segments likely countered each other to create the total metric.

Analysts said prices for full-size vans made a 0.92% leap week-over-week, while values for small pickups dropped by 0.48%. Changes in the other 11 truck categories moved either higher or lower by no more than 0.32%.

After going through all of the price details, Black Book closed its newest report with these observations.

“Despite the limited inventory on dealer lots, dealer lanes continue to have higher volume at auction, while manufacturers’ remarketing lanes are offering less and less in open sales channels,” analysts said. “Dealers have found creative ways to diversify their source of inventory, and their innovation seems to be paying off.

“OEM remarketers are able to continue raising floors in the lanes for cleaner vehicles because of an extremely limited inventory pipeline. Because of the scarcity in the wholesale market, even vehicles with slight damages or open recalls are bringing top dollar,” analysts went on to say.