LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

The Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index for April showed how much different the wholesale market is now compared to a year ago when the pandemic really began to intensify.

Black Book reported on Thursday that its April index reading came in at 152.4, representing a rise of 11.2 points or 8.0% from March and establishing another record for the wholesale reading.

The firm said its index currently stands 43% above where it was the same time last year during initial economic shutdown due to COVID-19.

“Wholesale prices continued their ascent each week in April, although the rate of increase declined slightly at the end of the month,” Black Book senior vice president of data science and analytics Alex Yurchenko said in a news release.

“Demand for used and new vehicles remained strong, but available inventory continued to decline,” Yurchenko continued. “This elevated demand and low inventory coupled with low incentives levels on new vehicles helped the retention index to increase for the fourth month in the row.

“This month, all segments showed increases, with compact car and minivans having the largest gains,” he added.

 The Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index is calculated using Black Book’s published wholesale average value on 2- to 6-year-old used vehicles, as percent of original typically equipped MSRP. It is weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage and condition.

To obtain a copy of the latest Black Book Wholesale Value Index, go to this website.