CARY, N.C. -

Much like the Eric Church song, the used-vehicle market was “having a record year” in 2021.

That includes the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which reached an all-time high of 236.2 in December and beat the prior-year reading by 46.6%.

Wholesale prices, when adjusted for mix, mileage and seasonality, climbed 1.6% from November. Non-adjusted, they were down 1.1% month-over-month.

As such, the non-adjusted year-over-year spike was a still-staggering 43.4%.

Analyzing a slide deck that showed year-over-year performance in wholesale prices across a timeline, Cox Automotive economic and industry insights manager Kayla Reynolds said in a conference call Friday that, “the year-over-year price performance of the seasonally adjusted series has returned to an ascending trend, which has resulted in year-over-year increases much higher than the historical average in the prior peak.”

Reynolds added: “While above-average price performance is not abnormal from a historical perspective, as we have had periods of strong price performance at auction in periods of underperformance, the recent performance has put us in new territory. The increases in the fourth quarter have not quite matched the peaks in the spring when the gains were up against the 2020 decline.”

In addition to the 46.6% year-over-year gain (adjusted) in overall wholesale prices, the top individual vehicle segments all showed significant growth, as well.

Van prices were up 61.8% in December, compact cars were up 55.1% and midsize cars were up 50.3, according to the Cox Automotive data.

SUV/CUV prices climbed 45.8% last month, luxury cars were up 36.5% and pickup prices rose 36%.

Adding some context to the overall rise in wholesale prices, Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke said during the call, “Remember that inflation is not controlled for by the index calculation, so we expect to see gains, even in a normal year. But normal is closer to 2%, instead of the 47% in December.”

And 2021 was anything but normal.