Perhaps dealers are looking at their DMS or their blacktop and saying to themselves, “Yeah, I think we’re good for now.”

Black Book spotted a slight acceleration in wholesale price decreases last week with sales rates softening, too.

“The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike continues, but last week’s auction activity slowed down as buyers exercised caution while the negotiations with Ford, Stellantis and General Motors seemed to be making small progress with counteroffers,” Black Book said in its newest installment of Market Insights released on Tuesday.

“Additionally, sellers raised their floor prices last week in an attempt to capitalize on the prior week’s auction success with increased strength in valuations and conversion rates,” analysts continued in the report.

Black Blook reported that overall wholesale values declined 0.32% during the week that closed on the first Saturday of October. And the estimated average weekly sales rate slipped to 52%.

“Auction conversion rates dropped last week, while we also saw an increase in inventory across the country,” Black Book analysts said. “It appears there is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now, buyers and sellers aren’t sure what to expect in the coming weeks and that was reflected with the lower conversion rates.”

Delving deeper into the newest numbers, Black Book indicated overall car segment values decreased 0.34% on a volume-weighted basis. That doubled the drop Black Book spotted during the previous week when it was 0.15%.

Older cars declined slightly less than newer ones, as Black Book pegged the decrease for 0- to 2-year-old units at 0.32% with 8- to 16-year-old cars sliding by 0.23%.

Black Book noticed seven of the nine car segments decreased last week. But one segment posting an increase was compact cars, which increased for the second consecutive week thanks to a price rise of 0.19%.

But analysts said prices for sub-compact cars dropped 0.87% last week, the most by any car segment.

Movement for those fuel-sipping vehicles came as Cox Automotive reported on Tuesday that gas prices increased in July and August but declined slightly in September.

Cox Automotive recapped AAA data that indicated the national average price for unleaded gas declined 0.1% in September to $3.82 per gallon, which was unchanged year-over-year.

Also of note in the car department, Black Book pointed out values for mid-size cars now have dropped for 19 weeks in a row. Last week’s decline was 0.81%, helping the average drop during the stretch to be 0.79%.

Meanwhile, Black Book’s volume-weighted truck data showed last week’s overall value decline was 0.28%, nearly six times higher than the price dip registered a week earlier.

Analysts said prices for 0- to 2-year-old trucks declined 0.28% on average last week, while the 8- to 16-year-old units decreased 0.23%.

Prices for three of the 13 truck segments increased last week. That group included small pickups (up 0.33%), full-size luxury crossover/SUVs (up 0.17%) and full-size crossover/SUVs (up 0.07%).

The notable value decline for minivans continued last week, according to Black Book’s tracking. Prices for those family machines have now dropped for 17 weeks in a row with last week’s decrease coming in at 1.58%. The average weekly depreciation for minivans during that streak is 0.81%.

Despite a worker strike in Canada lasting only a few hours while the UAW-OEM standoff continues, Black Book reiterated, “we have our team of analysts focused on keeping their eyes on the market, watching for developing trends and gathering insights.”