LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.—Reports from the auto auction lanes show that used car inventories are climbing, buyers are slowing down, and used values—except for trucks—may soon slide faster.
Black Book reports that data trends from the auction lanes may be the result 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,” the company stated in a release.
Black Book said that in its discussions with dealers, “we gained insights 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.”
Black Book reports that values of car segments overall were relatively unchanged from the previous week, with strength coming from the compact cars (+0.17%), full-size cars (+0.14%), and entry mid-size cars (+0.12%). Trucks overall fared a little better at +0.31%, led by compact SUVs (+1.17%) and mid-size SUVs (+0.65%).
“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.
Other data trends:
- Overall, the volume-weighted car values were flat from the previous week.
- Overall, the volume-weighted truck values increased by +0.31% from the previous week.
- Small cars seem to be selling better than in past weeks. With a good supply in these segments, prices are likely to slowly decline through the rest of the year, Black Book said.
- Trucks showed broad strength across the SUV and pickup segments.