GAINESVILLE, GA - Black Book personnel Tom Cross, president; Tim West, VP and North American Auction Director; and Ricky Beggs, VP and managinge editor, all took part in the annual Conference of Automotive Remarketing (CAR)/ International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA)/ and National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) Conference held March 14-15 in Las Vegas.

"There were some great keynote presentations and lively panel discussions throughout the conference," according to Beggs. "Key personnel from dealerships, auctions, and remarketing leaders provided much insight into the current happenings of the market along with their expectations of future trends and processes we might all be looking for."

Beggs also congratulates a longtime member of the remarketing industry and a friend of his, Virgil Matczak, for his recognition by the IARA, "and also to another friend and the current President of NAAA and co-owner of Capitol City AA and Mountain State AA in West Virginia, Charlotte Pyle for being selected as the Remarketer of the Year by Bobit Business Media and Vehicle Remarketing magazine. Dan Kennedy of GM Remarketing, who we have worked with for many years, was chosen as Consignor of the Year. Black Book congratulations to all three of these industry professionals," he noted.

According to Beggs, "Almost everyone heard in the presentations and spoke with continues to be amazed at the recent trends in the used vehicle values as they are steadily increasing. The auction owners and managers are again reporting ultra-high conversion rates. One commercial remarketer, while sitting in the airport late Thursday night, even mentioned values increasing as the sales were held and completed each day throughout last week. Almost everyone relates the changes to a tight supply of inventory and an active retail market with empty holes on the dealers’ lots."

According to Black Book data, the market continues to strengthen with 67 percent of the necessary adjustments being increases to the previous day’s published values. This is slightly stronger than the 66-percent increases of the week before. "From these adjustments both the cars and the trucks had positive week over week average values, with the cars up by $6 to an average price of $13,942 and the trucks average price  of $12,672 being up by $5 week over week," Beggs said. 

For the second consecutive week, seven of the 10 car segments increased. The three declining segments were the same ones for both of the past two weeks, the more luxury type cars from the Prestige Luxury Cars (PLC), the Premium Sporty Cars (PSC) and the Luxury Level Cars (LLC). The two segments with the largest increases were again the Compact Cars (SCC) up by $80 and the Entry Level Cars (ELC) up by $58.

Even with gas prices at the pump up again this week to a national average of $3.83 per gallon, the trucks continue to show strong demand and strength. The Full-size SUVs (FSU) and the Mid-size Crossovers (MXU) led the way as 9 of the 14 truck segments increased for the second consecutive week. The Full-size Pickups (FPT) increased this past week by $3 after declining the week prior, while the Compact Pickups (CPT) declined this past week after being one of the 9 segments that increased the previous week.

"With all of these positive adjustments, I can’t begin to tell you the number of times this past week that I was asked 'how long will this strength continue?' Based on the supply in the pipeline, the level of retail sales, and the gradually increasing consumer confidence, we feel pretty confident there is positive trending ahead of us. Only you the bidding and buying dealer will determine that for sure," Beggs said.