LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Seriously. This value spike hasn’t happened since Black Book started to track week-over-week wholesale price changes in 2009 when smartphones were in their infancy.

According to Black Book’s newest Market Insights, wholesale prices increased 1.49%, breaking the previous week-over-week record rise of 1.46% established during the week ending July 25.

“Sellers continue to report that available inventory is dwindling, especially on those in-demand 0 to 2-year-old vehicles that are being kept in fleet and rental longer due to delays in replacement inventory,” Black Book said in the report.

Of course, with tax season happening and consumers getting an additional bump via the latest federal stimulus package, dealers still need used vehicles to retail. Black Book also touched on what used-car managers are doing now with values to higher.

“Buyers are reporting that the lack of inventory is pushing them to purchase higher mileage and ‘edgier’ units and requiring them to put more into reconditioning,” Black Book said.

“With this increase in reconditioning cost, along with the increased time and cost for transportation, the final transaction cost in many cases is seeing a larger increase than the base wholesale value changes reflect,” Black Book went on to say.

As they say in other parts of the financial world, let’s do the numbers to get a grasp on what’s happening.

Black Book reported overall car values soared 1.58% higher last week, topping the prior week's increase of 1.42%.

Analysts said eight of their nine car segments posted price gains of more than 1% with subcompact cars more than doubling the figure with a value spike of 2.12%.

The value rise for compact cars wasn’t far off that pace as Black Book said they jumped 1.61%, “making them attractive buys for dealers looking to sell to consumers with stimulus and tax return money.”

And dealers looking for vehicles at a higher price point are having to come up with more floorplan funds, too, since Black Book discovered the prestige luxury car segment had its largest single-week increase ever recorded. It was the first time this segment broke the 1% mark for a weekly value gain, rising 1.20%.

Looking over at trucks, Black Book determined overall prices jumped 1.44%, nearly doubling the prior week's value climb of 0.82%.

And like their subcompact counterparts in the car world, analysts spotted the values for subcompact crossovers soared more than 2% higher, pacing the entire truck rundown with a gain of 2.03%. Compact crossovers made a healthy value increase, too, rising by 1.71%.

Furthermore, pickups both small and full-size are fetching higher prices, too, as Black Book pegged the value jump for them at 1.79% and 1.62%, respectively.