In his final Kontos Kommentary, ADESA chief economist Tom Kontos — who is retiring from his post on Aug. 16 — does what he has consistently done for more than two decades with these reports.

He shares precise segment-by-segment statistics on wholesale vehicle values from the past month. provides context to those price movements and offers his own take on the happenings in the overall used-car market and economy.

“As you are aware from the announcement of my retirement as ADESA’s chief economist, this is the final Kontos Kommentary after 20-plus years of producing these monthly reports,” he said in an email intro to the latest report. “It has been a labor of love for an industry I have found endlessly fascinating and an audience that has warmly shown appreciation for my analysis.”

Always one to include historical color and an artist’s creativity while explaining an otherwise meat-and-potatoes subject matter, Kontos also winds down memory lane with a timeline highlighting 10 of “trendspotter” stakes from the past two-and-a-half decades.

The housing market and Wall Street collapses, the post-September 11 impact, the Detroit automaker bankruptcies, would-be fiscal cliffs, Cash for Clunkers, COVID — if a phenomena or geo-political/macro-economic event happened in the 2000s and beyond, Kontos likely addressed how it impacted the used-car market in one of his reports, be it Pulse, Kontos Kommentary or a whitepaper. Or in one of his many interviews with journalists or during a conference panel discussion.

In his early 2009 Pulse report recapping the turmoil 2008: “In our mid-year report, we held out hope that the economy might soon turn a corner on the various issues plaguing it at that point in time. But, the ink on that Pulse was barely dry in September when Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Washington Mutual all made dramatic news on a seemingly daily basis with either the potential or reality of bankruptcy.

“The Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve board chairman were on Capitol Hill stressing the dire circumstances requiring a $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system — sending shock waves around the world,” Kontos wrote. “As if that wasn’t enough, Americans were treated during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season to the sight of the chief executives from the institutions known for generations as the Big Three asking the government for rescue funds.”

On the early days of COVID, in the April 2020 edition of Kontos Kommentary: “Just as the pandemic pattern is likely to worsen before it gets better (though as a nation we are trying to “flatten the curve”), used vehicle values (when auctions resume some semblance of pre-March level of sales and conversion rates) are likely to fall by the sorts of double-digit year-on-year levels we saw both post-9/11 and during the Great Recession. And, it’s best to expect that upticks in used vehicle values are several months down the road, though strong demand for used vehicles in tough times, supportive government fiscal and monetary policies, and low oil prices should help limit the damage.”

In the Pulse report from December 2001, Kontos delves into the impact of the September 11 attacks and the military response, and how the auto industry provided an economic stimulus: “The events of September 11, and the subsequent military responses and domestic concerns significantly changed the political and economic landscape compared to the relatively tranquil conditions in place at the time of our previous report.

“As a result, it may be more important than ever to explore economic conditions related to our industry if we are to restore our sense of ‘business as usual,’” Kontos said. “Dealers got a case of ‘reverse sticker shock’ when they realized their surplus trade-ins had to compete with heavy auction volumes from off-rental units. It appears that Detroit, as much or more than Washington, has been responsible for providing economic stimulus in the aftermath of September 11.”

On a macro level, the final Kontos Kommentary arrives amid the most eventful stretch in American electoral politics in decades and shortly after world leaders gathered for a NATO Summit.  On a micro level, the time period covered in his final report includes the CDK Global software disruption and its impact to the auto industry.

As he has done for decades, Kontos addresses the micro and micro concisely in the latest rendition.

“Wholesale prices fell for the third consecutive month in June, but stabilized in July and actually increased for hard-to-find late-model units,” he said in the June/July report. “Retail used vehicle sales fell dramatically in June, both sequentially and annually, impacted in part from CDK Global’s dealer management system disruption, along with consumer hesitancy from high inflation and interest rates.”

The full report delves into deep details on those numbers.

He closes the final Kontos Kommentary with this: “Though I am retiring from my role as ehief economist at ADESA, I know I will see many of you in upcoming conferences and meetings. I wish you continued success. This is a great industry, and I have been privileged to serve it and you for over 30 years. Thank you for your interest in my efforts over the years.”