GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Black Book’s Ricky Beggs believes the wholesale market took a “major turn” a week ago as editors spotted a record number of price increases.

The managing editor indicated the number of vehicles adjusted on a daily basis was “reasonably in line” with most other recent weeks, averaging 1,734 per day a week ago.

“The results of our market studies this past week showed a major turn into a more positive market,” the Black Book veteran began in his weekly video blog, “Beggs on the Used Car Market.”

Beggs continued with, “The spring market has definitely arrived as our adjustments showed over 66 percent of the changes were increases in value.”

Among those rising price adjustments, Black Book discovered the average increase was $120.

All told, wholesale prices moved up $36 last week. The last time an overall price movement represented a positive gain was last May 20 when Black Book spotted a $20 uptick.

Looking at specific segments beginning with cars, Beggs explained that overall car prices only ticked up $1 with seven of the 10 segments actually increasing for the week.

Leading the increases were compact cars (up $42), followed by entry level cars (up $40), entry midsize cars (up $32) and upper midsize cars (up $26).

Two segments contributed most of the car segment price losses as editors indicated premium sporty cars dropped by $100 and prestige luxury cars declined by $56. Luxury level cars also fell by $5 to finish the week at “pretty solid levels,” according to Beggs.

“Two weeks ago the car segments average change declined less than the trucks and had more positive changing segments than the trucks. This past week the car segments average change came in very solid,” Beggs continued.

Meanwhile, those previously mentioned trucks posted an overall price gain of just $1.

“As gas prices continue to climb, the need and demand for trucks and utilities stands out as eight of the 14 truck segments increased for the week,” Beggs surmised.

Three truck segments had positive price gains of at least $25, including midsize crossovers (up $42), compact pickups (up $27) and full-size SUVs (up $25).

The truck segments declining the most were full-size crossovers (down $68) and luxury SUVs (down $44).

Beggs wondered, “Will this trend of aggressively increasing values within both the cars and trucks continue? The last time we saw this stable a level of values was in June 2011 for the cars and the last week of April 2011 for the trucks.

Beggs wrapped up his latest analysis with an update on other Black Book activity.

“This past week a couple of our editors were in attendance at the NTEA and the Green Fleet Conference in Indianapolis,” he shared. “There were some fantastic new pieces of equipment to compliment the medium and heavy duty trucks. Technologies regarding hybrids and electric propulsion were also showcasing some amazing products and solutions. 

“It will be another busy week for us beside viewing and attending the auctions. One of the premier remarketing conferences is being held this week in Las Vegas. We look forward to the many educational sessions, panel presentations and keynote presentations throughout the CAR/IARA/NAAA Conference,” added Beggs, who will be part of a technology roundtable session as well as a session on residual forecasting. 

“Leasing is returning as a big piece of the current new car sales and financing solutions and having the insight into the residuals set today will be key in growing your leasing portfolio,” Beggs went on to say.

“Please let us know what’s working for you and your business in this very positive used market,” he concluded.

Beggs’ video can be viewed below.