The wholesale vehicle market has made a strong start to 2026, with industry indices pointing to several indicators of market health in the first two months of the year. Starting with Black Book, its monthly Used Vehicle Retention Index for February was down 1.0% from a year ago but climbed 2.3% month-over-month as the “seasonal […] [Read More]

The auction hammer is coming down at a rate Black Book has seen only three times since May 2022. According to the newest installment of Market Insights released Tuesday, Black Book said the auction conversion rate jumped by 4 percentage points during the last week of February to land at 66%. The rate hit that […] [Read More]

Now a profitable operation, Lease End sees its chance to provide dealerships with a path to more profitability through their used-car inventory. The fintech company wants to connect dealerships with consumers who are near the end of their contracts with launch of Lease End Marketplace. It’s designed to help lessees exit their contracts early while […] [Read More]

America’s Group has moved into another new state: Iowa. The company announced its first location in the Hawkeye State, acquiring Plaza Auto Auction in Mount Vernon. The auction, founded in 1963 by Bob and Norma Edleman, will now operate as America’s Auto Auction Iowa. It is one of the few remaining evening dealer-only sales in […] [Read More]

Beyond wholesale prices — which ticked up 0.13% last week — two other key metrics Black Book tracks for each edition of Market Insights are the auction conversion rate and the estimated used retail days to turn. And both of those trends moved lower a week ago, prompting analysts to declare an “increasingly retail-aligned buying […] [Read More]

The National Auto Auction Association announced that its Warren Young, Sr. Scholastic Foundation is now accepting applications for its annual scholarships. The foundation will award up to 12 $10,000 scholarships to students planning to attend an accredited four-year school — eight based on academic standing and up to four based on financial need — and […] [Read More]

At the start of last year, OPENLANE CEO Peter Kelly challenged his teams with four key annual goals. Those were: to grow the customer base and vehicle transaction volumes, improve financial performance, and position OPENLANE for long-term success. During the webcast to announce OPENLANE’s fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings results, Kelly said the company […] [Read More]