MARKHAM, Ontario -

The Canadian Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index reached a record high last month, but perhaps even more telling, it has made up for the lost ground amid COVID-19.

In a news release accompanying the index, Canadian Black Book said the index was up to 109 for September, the highest level since its January 2005 inception.

That beats the August level by 1.6 points (1.5%) and the September 2019 level by 0.8 points (0.7%).

“In summary, the index has now regained all that it had lost since February of this year due to the market impact of COVID-19,” CBB said in the release.

The CBB index fell 7.8 points (7.2%) in February, which the company called a “remarkable and unprecedented decline” and noted that it was a record sequential dip.

The market has since turned around in a big way.

“A dramatic rebound of used values began when sales commenced after COVID-19 lockdown measures eased,” CBB said in the release. “The surge in demand, combined with a widespread shortage of vehicles, have boosted the index to this new record high.”

Looking at the September index in more detail, the strongest month-over-month gain was for the luxury car segment, which climbed 4.7 points, and the compact luxury CUV/SUV (up 4.5 points).

Sporty cars were next at 3.7 points.

Some segments had “marginally” lower readings, including premium sporty cars (down 0.6 points), minivans (down 0.3 points) and subcompact cars (down 0.2 points).

Full-size crossover SUVs and subcompact cars showed the largest year-over-year growth (up 8.2 points), with full-size cars next in line (up 7.4 points).

Full-size luxury CUV/SUVs had the heaviest year-over-year decline (7.5 points), with small pickups (down 4.4 points) and compact cars (down 1.4 points) following.