Small Used Cars Selling Well, Auctions Report Buyer Slowdown

According to the recent Black Book market insights report, overall car segments are relatively unchanged from the past week, with strength coming from the Compact Cars (+0.17 percent), Full-Size Cars (+0.14 percent), and Entry Mid-Size Cars (+0.12 percent). Trucks, overall, fared a little better at +0.31 percent, led by Compact SUVs (+1.17 percent) and Mid-Size SUVs (+0.65 percent).

“The wholesale market remains strong, especially for trucks; however, buyers are starting to show resistance as more no-sales are being reported all across the country,” said Anil Goyal, VP of Automotive Valuation and Analytics at Black Book.

Overall, the volume-weighted car values were flat from last week, according to Black Book. The volume-weighted truck values increased by +0.31 percent from the past week.

Small cars seem to be selling better than in past weeks. With a good supply in such segments, prices are likely to slowly decline through the rest of the year. Trucks showed broad strength across the SUV and Pickup segments.

Dealers are also noting that they have “enough inventory” and were mainly looking for “bargains” now. Several buyers were quoted saying that they feel the market will start dropping soon and they are being cautious as to what they are willing to pay for inventory replacement, according to the report.

Additionally, auction lanes may be showing signs of a tired tax season. Comments from the lanes and data show that used vehicle inventories have been replenished, and remarketers are seeing signs of a buyer slowdown across many car segments in particular.