REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -

Autumn leaves might be falling, but OPENLANE’s U.S. Market Index reached its highest level ever in September.

Vice president of analytics Nagi Palle pinpointed the September reading at 111, a five-point rise from the previous month. The index’s previous high stood at 110 for two consecutive months in November and December of last year.

While the September mark posted the index’s all-time high, the lowest point came during the height of the financial crisis on Wall Street. The readings in November and December of 2008 were 86.

Palle next turned to how September prices shook out for various vehicle segments and discovered trucks finally halted a downward skid that began in May. He calculated truck prices rose dramatically during September, up by 9 percentage points over the previous month.

Elsewhere, OPENLANE found cars posted a healthy gain in September, too, climbing 6 percentage points over August. SUVs went up as well, moving higher by 3 percentage points.

The only segment to sustain a drop in OPENLANE’s September report were minivans as prices slid down by 1 percentage point versus August.

Wrapping up the latest analysis, Palle described how OPENLANE found various dealer interest patterns in September for these four vehicle segments.

OPENLANE said dealer interest in cars dropped in September but was up versus September of last year by 6 percentage points.

Although dealer interest in minivans finished flat in September, Palle computed the reading to be 38 percentage points than the year-over-year mark.

While September’s SUV interest increased by 4 percentage points, it came in 4 percentage points below the year-ago level.

Finally, OPENLANE indicated dealer interest in trucks dropped slighted and ended 19 percentage points below September of last year.