It was nearly two-and-a-half years ago and the used-car market was amid the early hard punches of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s the last time that the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index showed a year-over-year decrease, according to data from Cox Automotive.

While used-car values are still well above where they were in 2020, September marked the first year-over-year dip in the Manheim index since May of that year.

Cox Automotive reported Friday that wholesale vehicle prices fell 3.0% month-over-month in September and 0.1% year-over-year, when adjusting for mix, mileage and seasonality. Wholesale prices have now fallen four straight months on a sequential basis.

Unadjusted, values were down 2.1% month-over-month and 2.3% year-over-year.

“2022 has been the year of giving back some of the big 2021 increases when it comes to wholesale used-vehicle values,” Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke said in a news release.

“Vehicles are once again depreciating assets. As we look at the cumulative declines this year, we are down significantly and now expect to finish the year down nearly 14% in December,” Smoke said. “We haven’t seen declines like this since the onset of the pandemic and the beginning of the Great Recession.”

Looking at weekly price changes, Cox Automotive said in analysis accompanying the index, “In September, Manheim Market Report (MMR) values saw larger-than-normal declines that were consistent over the month, culminating in a 2.5% total decline in the Three-Year-Old Index over the last four weeks.

“Over the month of September, daily MMR Retention, which is the average difference in price relative to current MMR, averaged 98.4%, meaning market prices were below MMR values,” the company said.

Each of the eight market segments that Cox Automotive includes in the data set saw month-over-month declines in values, and five of the eight saw year-over-year declines.

The segments showing year-over-year increases were compact cars (up 5.9%), pickups (up 0.8%) and vans (up 0.8%).

Looking forward, Cox Automotive anticipates continued price softening, though not at as steep of a rate.

“Given that we are back to depreciation, it is more likely that the next few months will also see negative figures; however, we are not anticipating any major declines,” Cox Automotive senior manager of economic and industry insights Chris Frey said in a release. “Our expectation is that depreciation over the next three months will be slower and lower than what we’ve just seen this past quarter.”