GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

In what Black Book’s Ricky Beggs called a stable week for the used-car market, the proportion of changes made to wholesale values last week that were positive was substantially higher than the previous week.

“Last week (during the report), I mentioned the very limited 29 percent of the adjustments being increases to the vehicle values and suggested it might be the effects of the fourth week of the month — a psychological hesitancy to buy,” he noted in Monday’s Beggs on the Used Car Market video report.

“As February arrived the adjustments had a solid 50 percent being increases to the values,” he indicated.

Overall, the average adjustment was a $7 dip for clean-condition units and a $9.92 drop for average condition units.

There was an average of 1,180 units having their wholesale value adjusted each day last week, which Beggs said is “above average.”

Breaking it down by vehicle type, the overall change for trucks, as a whole, was a downward movement of $17, Beggs noted. This marked the second week in a row that trucks have seen a negative movement, though they are usually the “stalwarts of the market,” he pointed out.

However, what helped mitigate some of the overall decline for trucks was the fact that six of the 14 segments Black Book tracks showed gains.

The biggest gainer on the truck side was the midsize crossover segment (up $83) with the full-size passenger van next (up $23). There was a $19 uptick in full-size cargo van values, making it the third-highest increase.

Conversely, there was some softness among full-size SUVs, which softened $93, and compact SUVs (down $37). However, full-size pickups weakened the most out of any of the 24 segments Black Book monitors, as its values dipped $114. This was the second week in a row it has had the heftiest drop for all segments (car or truck).

Moving over to the car side of the market, the overall change there was a downward movement of $19. That said, there is much progress being made, Beggs noted.

“Although the car segments are still below the $0 baseline overall for the week, they are steadily strengthening, getting better almost every week with smaller declines during the past two months,” he pointed out. “This past week’s change of (-) $19 is the second lowest decline since the week ending Dec. 10, 2010.”

Delving into more car segments, entry midsize cars climbed $11 and entry-level cars were up $1.

The values of these segments have both increased for three of the last four weeks, Beggs shared.

“Although gas prices have not directly nor drastically put a push down on any of the truck segments, the most positive and stable changes have come within the cars that are smaller and more economical that slowly sip on the petrol,” he commented.

Additionally, Beggs pointed out four car segments whose declines were $10 or less: entry sport cars (down $10), upper midsize cars (down $9), compact cars (down $7) and full-size cars (down $4).

Continuing on, Beggs also offered insight on a few more trends spotted in the auction lanes.

“We are continuing to see more current and 1-year-old models cross the lanes that haven’t previously shown up in the auctions,” he shared.

“Another 45 of these limited volume vehicles are now appearing and priced in the guides and data with actual market driven values,” Beggs continued. “A few include the 2011 (Chevrolet) Camaro, some 2010 Porsche 911 models, the Audi Wagon, and the (Mitsubishi) Lancer Ralliart.”

Moving along, he touched on the wintry weather that has blasted much of the U.S. and its impact on the wholesale market.

“The most widespread snowstorm to hit the U.S. shut down more auto auctions than any of us at Black Book can ever remember,” Beggs stated.

“We will be watching the market this week with a keen eye to see if there are any effects on the market values so we can report those to the industry in a timely manner,” he continued. “We understand that unfortunately that retail activity was also forced to take a break, as well.”