GAINESVILLE, GA - As the week progressed there must have been some freshly created spots on the lot to fill, as the auction activity was brisk, according to Black Book. There were still a fair number of no-sales, but business was still taking place in the auction lanes. More than 2,100 vehicles were adjusted by Black Book each day during the past week. With these changes there were also 10 models consisting of 61 vehicles of various trims and configurations that were published with their first market driven values.

"From all the data we analyzed during the week, the effects of continuing climbing gasoline and diesel prices at the pump, that has now reached a point that is higher than any time since back in the week of April 23, 2012, has given us some surprising changes within the market," according to Ricky Beggs, VP and managing editor for Black Book.

The overall car segment average change increased slightly this past week to -$66 or -0.42 percent. And, even as gasoline increases, the Entry Level Cars (ELC) had the largest percentage decline of all 10 car segments at -1.17 percent, followed by the Entry Mid-size Cars (EMC) at -0.64 percent. In dollar changes, the Prestige Luxury Cars (PLC) continue to adjust downward the most in the market for the fourth consecutive week. This past week it was -$135.

The 14 truck segments actually fared better this past week than the prior week declining by $48 as compared to the -$53 the previous week. With all 14 segments declining for the week, the retention was still better than the previous week as nine segments had smaller declines. Mid-size Pickups (MPT) lead the retention with a change of only -$6. Passenger Minivans (MVW) at -$22 and Compact Pickups (CPT) at -$23 were not far behind in their change level. The largest declining segments consisted of the -$106 for the Luxury SUVs (LSU), -$84 for the Full-size Passenger Vans (FVW) and -$70 on the Full-size SUVs (FSU).

"Each week, Black Book has representatives at 62 physical auction locations. We take this data, along with thousands of additional records received electronically, to report the market as it changes," Beggs said. "Under circumstances in past years, as gasoline prices increased, the more fuel-efficient car and truck models would have increased in value as the price at the pump would go up, while the less fuel efficient trucks would have been the larger declining models. So, without analyzing the actual auction data and reporting the market as it happens, the perception and ultimate changes would have been different than actually occurred these past few weeks.

"As you have watched these thoughts on the market and seen some of the charts showing the market changes, we have modified this week’s charts to highlight more specific segment changes along with the overall average segment change," Beggs noted. "This gives you a less jumbled look, as this improvement is a result of a viewer’s feedback. We hope this gives everyone a better view and understanding of the recent changes."