Solid Used-Vehicle Market Strength Continues

As the week progressed and comments arrived from the Black Book survey personnel, there were primarily three main descriptions of the auction activity and market: steady, good and strong. On the other hand there was a slightly surprising comment from a few reports that indicated a few more "no sales," according to Ricky Beggs, editorial director for Black Book. 

"We see a good portion of those units that didn’t get sold coming from the 2012s and especially the 2013s that were being offered," Beggs said. "When all of the adjustments were completed for the week, those three words mentioned earlier, definitely support the 62 percent of adjustments that were increases to the previously published values."

The cars didn’t push a positive number for the average segment change finishing at an even $0, but they did finish better than the prior week of -$3, according to Black Book. The Entry Level Cars, the Upper Mid-size Cars, and the Entry Mid-size Cars continue to be the main strength of the car segments as a total of six of the ten segments increased for the week. Another increasing segment was the Premium Sporty Cars finishing at +$7 for the week. I cannot remember a time in the past year where this segment has increased week over week. Although it didn’t have a positive change the Prestige Luxury Cars had their smallest declining amount over the past six weeks at -$56.

The truck market overall strength slacked off slightly this past week, declining by a segment average of -$5 with only five of the fourteen segments increasing. The Full-size Pickups continue to lead the pack at +$27 this past week and with an average change of +$31 per week for the past five weeks. The Compact Pickups and the Mid-size Pickups at +$61 and +$29 respectively show the need and interest for these functional and practical vehicles. The Full-size Crossovers have softened since the first of the year declining by -$85 this past week.

Another interesting note is that the Full-size Pickups and the Mid-size Pickups have both fared better week over week than the overall truck segments since the week ending February 1, 2013. This same scenario has presented itself in the cars for the Entry Mid-size Cars, the Compact Cars and the Upper Mid-size Cars for at least the past twelve weeks.

View this weeks' Beggs on the Market video below: