GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Wherever Black Book managing editor Ricky Beggs turned, attendees at last week's National Auto Auction Association conference wanted to know the same thing. They kept probing Beggs about how the market is doing and what the industry could expect for the rest of the year.

For people not in New York at the conference, Beggs used his weekly "Beggs on the Used Car Market" video report to share the same commentary he did previously.

"This past week as the Black Book survey personnel reported the auction activity and the editors attended several auctions, there was a consistent feeling of a slight increase in the number of no sales both in the dealer consigned lanes and now even into some of the commercial accounts," Beggs offered.

"I even talked with one commercial account rep that had all of his sales throughout the week at sub-60-percent levels. His normal conversion is 80 percent," he continued.

"Other comments from buying dealers are a feeling of hesitancy to speculate and build up inventory at this time," Beggs went on to say. "They will step up for an immediate sale or inventory need. The biggest reason for this action reflects the thinking of a potential seasonal market adjustment possibility and not wanting to get caught with overpriced inventory."

With those factors in mind, Beggs hesitated to speculate on how price adjustments for the rest of 2010 will pan out.

"I'm not so sure we will see a significant adjustment due to the still constrained supply in the market of used vehicles," he stated.

Beggs pointed out that he attended last week's NAAA event with Black Book colleagues Tom Cross, Tim West and Eric Lawrence, adding "I had a great time seeing so many of our friends again who are auction owners and leaders and key remarketing specialists. These are people with a hands-on insight into the happenings of the market every week."

Beggs then delved into how the relationship between Black Book and NAAA remains strong.

"The Black Book support of NAAA hasn't wavered for over the past 55 years, and we recognize their key roles in the wholesale markets around the country and world," Beggs noted. "We look forward to attending and reporting the market from almost 60 auctions who are members of this great association each and every week."

Along with being asked to forecast the wholesale market future, Black Book's contingent spent time at the NAAA conference discussing various valuation and vehicle identification solutions that can assist all sellers, buyers and auctions in their day-to-day operations.

In particular, Beggs highlighted NAAA's standards committee and its work toward adding consistency to many phases of the remarketing industry

"From past years, the committee adopted a standard grading and condition scale, which Black Book recognizes by publishing four different condition values," Beggs explained.

"This year the adoption of three specific wholesale certification levels for the industry, and especially the many commercial consignors, was approved," he added.

Beggs elaborated about how important that passage is to the wholesale market.

"This is a very positive step to give the buyers a level of confidence on vehicles from these consignors," Beggs emphasized. "Thank you to Bob McConkey and the standards committee for their efforts." 

Beggs congratulated Dave Angelicchio for his year of service as NAAA president, and also offered warm greeting to Jay Cadigan, who now is NAAA president.

Beggs wrapped up his weekly video report by sharing what Black Book found in the lanes last week. Turns out, 45 percent of adjustments were increases as Black Book modified an average of 1,173 vehicles each day throughout the week.

The decline for cars was nearly identical as the previous week, sliding from $39 to $40. Black Book highlighted two car segments that didn't drop as much as the average. They were compact cars (down $7) and entry mid-size cars (down $9).

Meanwhile for five of the last six weeks, Black Book determined premium sporty cars have had the largest change in value. This past week the segment declined $125.

Moving over to trucks, Black Book indicated they posted their best retention period since the week that ended July 2 as the average value for trucks dipped just $13.

In fact, three truck segments moved higher last week: compact SUVs (up $50), full-size passenger vans (up $35) and full-size cargo vans (up $24).

The positive truck news didn't extend over to luxury SUVs. The segment decreased $70, marking the third week in a row it led the truck segment. Black Book also said full-size crossovers dropped $46 last week.