For dealers looking to save resources on inventory procurement, the latest wholesale price readings from Black Book and Cox Automotive are providing details that might create quite a thankful mood as we approach Thanksgiving.

Black Book reported wholesale values decreased 1.48% last week, while Cox Automotive indicated wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage-, and seasonally adjusted basis) declined 1.6% from October during the first 15 days of November.

The data prompted the analysts at Black Book to ask: “The question now is where is the bottom?”

Finding the bottom might be an interesting proposition since Black Book noted in its latest installment of Market Insights released on Tuesday that some vehicle segments set records for the largest single-week declines.

Softening prices happened as Black Book also said the estimated average weekly sales rate remained steady at 55% last week.

“It will be interesting to see how next week’s market will look with the Thanksgiving holiday mixed in,” Black Book said in the report.

As dealers and consignors get set to enjoy turkey and trimmings, they’re doing so as Black Book watched overall car values drop by 1.35% on a volume-weighted basis.

Analysts said all nine car segments decreased last week with seven of those segments sustaining declines greater than 1%.

Full-size cars (down 2.33%) and subcompact cars (down 2.12%) paced the car decreases in Black Book’s tracking.

Looking closer at trucks, Black Book said truck values decreased 1.53% on a volume-weighted basis last week.

Black Book said all 13 truck segments decreased in value with 12 segments sliding by more than 1%.

Compact vans took quite a depreciation tumble, as analysts pegged the record-setting drop for those units at 5.48%. The average value decrease for compact vans during the past six weeks has been 2.18%, according to Black Book tracking.

Also of note, Black Book pointed out prices for full-size crossovers sunk 2.09% a week ago.

Delving deeper into the Cox Automotive wholesale value information released on Friday, experts explained the 1.6% price drop generated during the first half of November pushed the midmonth Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index down to 206.1. That reading is 5.3% lower than the full month reading posted last November.

Cox Automotive acknowledged the seasonal adjustment reduced the decrease. Analysts added the non-adjusted price change in the first half of November resulted in a 2.3% drop compared to October, while the unadjusted price was down 6.9% year-over-year.

During the past two weeks, Cox Automotive indicated Manheim Market Report (MMR) prices declined an aggregate of 1.9%, which was more than the normal decline of 1.0% for the time of year.

And during the first 15 days of November, analysts explained MMR Retention — the average difference in price relative to current MMR — averaged 98.8%, “indicating that valuation models are ahead of market prices.”

Cox Automotive added that the average daily sales conversion rate of 52.8% in the first half of November was above the November 2019 daily average of 50.8%.

“The conversion rate indicates that the first 15 days of the month saw slightly stronger-than-normal buying demand for this time of year,” analysts said in the commentary that accompanied the index update.

Similar to Black Book’s tracking, Cox Automotive also noticed robust year-over-year decreases in car prices, with compact cars dropping 10.7%, midsize cars sliding 8.0%, and luxury cars slipping by 6.1%.

Leveraging Manheim sales and inventory data, Cox Automotive estimated that wholesale supply ended October at 27 days, up one day from the end of September and flat year-over-year.

As of Nov. 15, analysts said wholesale supply was unchanged from the end of October at 27 days, down one day year-over-year and down three days compared to 2019.

“Wholesale supply is tighter than normal for this time of year,” Cox Automotive said.

Cox Automotive closed its update by mentioning the average price for rental risk units sold at auction during the first 15 days of November dropped 6.3% year-over-year.

Analysts determined rental risk prices are off by 4.7% compared to the full month of October.

Experts went on to note average mileage for rental risk units in the first half of November — coming in at 47,200 miles — was 12.7% lower compared to a year ago and 6.7% lower compared to last month.