Lane Watch: Wholesale vehicle prices show stability in June
At least for the first half of June, stability seems to be the name of the game in the auction lanes.
In its latest Market Insights report, Black Book observed that for the week ending Saturday, overall wholesale vehicle prices were up 0.10%, same as the prior week. Car segment prices were up 0.21%, compared to a 0.26% uptick the week before, while truck/SUV segment prices were up 0.04%, against a 0.03% increase the prior week.
This follows a similar finding in a Cox Automotive’s analysis around its mid-month Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which remained at 222.7 halfway through June.
“The wholesale market has not changed much — newer used vehicles (MY20-MY21) continue running through the lanes at higher rates while few model year 2022 vehicles have been seen,” Black Book said in its weekly analysis released Tuesday.
“Many of these newer used vehicles tend to be clean with low mileage. Sellers seem to be firm on their floor prices and are waiting for buyers to take interest and buy,” the company said. “Franchise and large independent dealers have been very competitive and are taking advantage of the opportunity to purchase inventory while rental companies seem to have taken a break and slowed down on bidding this week.”
Looking at Black Book’s weekly price changes by segment, there were gains in seven of the nine car categories, led by premium sporty cars (up 0.48%).
Trucks were more evenly split, with eight categories showing price increases and five decreasing.
The most significant increase was for compact vans (up 1.83%). The steepest declines were for full-size luxury crossover/SUVs, which were down 0.40%, and full-size crossovers/SUVs (down 0.37%), according to Black Book.
The company also addressed gas prices and the impact it is having in the various segments.
“With the price of gas going up, it has not seemed to affect sales rates in the lanes as much as one may expect,” Black Book said. “We can assume that because gas prices are continually on a price hike, it is causing the full-size, full-size luxury, and prestige luxury cars to decrease while subcompact crossovers, compact, and subcompact cars are on the rise.
“We will most likely continue to see these increases and decreases in these segments until gas prices begin to lower and stabilize,” they added.
Going back to the Cox Automotive report, after recapping Manheim Market Report trends in the opening half of June, the company had this to say about where values could be headed: “The latest trends in the key indicators suggest wholesale used-vehicle values should see declines in the second half of the month.”