Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services, custom data licensing solutions, as well as lender origination and risk analysis, has partnered with Chicago-based Cars.com to become the company’s official vehicle valuation service.



“Cars.com is a leader in providing consumers with the resources they need during the buying and selling process,” said Black Book’s Jared Kalfus, vice president of data licensing. “We…

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, reports lease credit approvals during the month of March were at 69.6%, up from last month’s yearly low of 66.7%. The 69.6% approvals mark is also the level of the last three months, indicating a credit approvals landscape that continues to hover near the “healthy” mark of 70%.



The credit approvals rate over the last twelve months stands at 71.7%. Prior to March, the approvals rate had continuously dropped from early fall…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with used car pricing data from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. Just when most all parts of the country thought winter was gone and pollen from the budding trees was the dominate particles in the air, we hopefully had the final blast of winter weather that swept across the Midwest and actually left Detroit enough of the white fluffy flakes to set an all-time record level of snow for the winter season.



As the Black…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market with used car valuation data trends from Black Book and Ricky Beggs. We trust the market has been good to each and every one of you as a buyer, a seller or a player in the lending side of the business. As I stood on the lanes this week I truly appreciate the comments that were made about the market strength, how some vehicles are identified and listed within the guides, and even the effects that actual VIN decoding…

According to Black Book® data, used vehicles model years 2008-2012 overall depreciated -0.3% in March, showing continued strength in seasonal retention compared to the -1.1% rate in February. Domestic cars gained in value by +0.7%; import cars depreciated -0.6%; domestic trucks gained in value by +0.6%; and import trucks depreciated -0.8%. Average pre-recession depreciation is historically between -1% and -2% monthly, and Black Book expects overall 2014 depreciation of -13.5%.



March…

How much influence does ‘change’ have on today’s car shopper? In the past, financial motivations drove the behavior of car shoppers, but our desire to simply change is viewed as the main reason we shop for a car today, according to a new study from the car-leasing marketplace Swapalease.com.

 

According to results of an online survey presented to more than 1,000 drivers across…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with the latest vehicle valuation data from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. We trust you have had a good week on the retail lots, in the auction lanes and airwaves and within the finance offices.



For those of you who have commented over the past several weeks that you expect the market to soften, you will…