GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Before discussing surprising price movements by trucks, Black Book managing editor Ricky Beggs touched on several other points he saw coming to light in January.

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During the first three weeks of 2011, Beggs said he reported “some pretty positive movement in the adjustments to the market that the Black Book editors have been making every day.

“As the last week of the month came and went, an old trend that we often see in week four began to show up — a slacking off in aggressive bidding,” he noted during his weekly “Beggs On the Used Car Market” video report.

Nonetheless, Beggs indicated Black Book had to make a little less than 1,400 vehicle prices changes last week. While during the previous week more than 60 percent of the price adjustments resulted in increases in value, Beggs discovered the closing week of January finished with only 29 percent of adjustments pushing prices higher.

“One commercial remarketer I spoke with last week described the market last week as ‘blah.’ Not weak or bad, but not aggressive or exciting from a seller’s point of view,” Beggs shared.

“Once I totaled the changes for the week, I completely understood his description of the market,” Beggs continued.

“One of the more upbeat results of the market studies from last week was the inclusion of another 63 vehicles with their first market driven used values being added to the data, handheld solution tools and printed guides,” he added.

Black Book determined the overall change level of car segments last week resulted in a price drop of $25. Beggs mentioned the dip was slightly larger than the previous week but also was the second-smallest decline since the week ending May 28.

According to company analysts, entry midsize cars continued their positive trend, finishing $26 higher than last week. Black Book pointed out that segment was the only one among cars that posted an increase for the week.

“When comparing the weekly changes of last week to the year-prior week, we are seeing the current market as being much more stable as the cars changed or declined less than half of the amount of a year ago,” explained Beggs, who added that cars are off by $25 in today’s market as compared with $56 in January 2010.

Beggs continued on by stating if a dealer noticed a significant change in the market for full-size pickups, “you have a good eye.”

Black Book determined overall truck prices declined by just $2 last week, but it was the first time in four weeks that negative moment occurred. The firm also noticed that seven of the 14 truck segments still moved in a positive direction.

“I think the biggest surprise, especially as to the amount of change, was with the full-size pickup trucks showing a decline of $106 for the week,” Beggs insisted. “This was the first weekly decline for this segment since the week ending Nov. 24.”

Beggs offered more background as to why this truck segment dropped so much.

“A couple of dealer comments that were passed along to the Black Book survey people while on the auction lanes were a reflection of the ultimate weekly changes of the full-size pickups,” Beggs began.

“One dealer expressed his views on this segment as ‘there is a drop in interest on diesel pickups,’” he continued. “While another said they ‘needed some cars but were not willing to step up strong on trucks.’”

Black Book emphasized how busy its schedule has been recently as analysts spent time in the lanes and the office reviewing thousands of data points. Beggs also mentioned some of his colleagues met with several manufacturers to discuss remarketing of off-lease and repo units.

“We also got a preview of a major redesign of a popular model and the addition of a new model configuration to their lineup of vehicles,” Beggs shared.

Along with keeping tabs on auctions live and online, Black Book noted that its upcoming docket includes a firsthand presentation of the Ford Focus. Firm associates also were heading for San Francisco for the AFSA Conference where Black Book served as a sponsor of an education session featuring a presentation by ADESA’s Tom Kontos, who shared his views of current used-vehicle market trends and economical issues.

Furthermore, Black Book expected to have a strong presence in San Francisco at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Expo. Beggs encouraged dealers to stop by booth No. 3723N to see the latest mobile solution tools or just talk about the market.

“The Black Book online team will also be on hand to show you how you can get more quality sales leads for your dealership,” Beggs interjected.

To watch the Black Book video, visit this website.