Hello and welcome to this week’s Used Car Market Report with insights from Black Book. Yes, gas prices at the pump are edging up, plus $.02 two weeks ago, and now a significant $.12 this past week. The national average is still a consumer friendly $2.19. Diesel was more stable and indications are this will be the case this year compared to gas. This past week was the first increase in diesel, at less than a penny, to $2.84 per gallon. The previous week over week increase was back for the week of November 10, 2014.

Feedback from our in the auction lanes survey personnel primarily indicated a more stable and steady market with a few thinking the no sales were slightly higher this past week. And of course, reports from the New England area all mentioned tough physical sales and attendance due to the weather. Within those markets they also mentioned the online activity still made the transactions completed.

The tax season continues to bring positive numbers and helped drive the largest number of necessary adjustments in a weekly period in over a year, at 2503 per day throughout the week.

The overall adjustments brought us an increase week over week of average segment change for both the cars and the trucks, from -$32 to -$49 on the cars, and -$25 to -$37 on the trucks. The most stable cars segments were the Entry Sporty Cars at -$18, the Upper Mid-size Cars at -$19 and the Full-size Cars at -$20. These three segments are also the most stable in change within the cars for the past three weeks, with an average change of -$26, -$15 and -$22 respectively.

The trucks continue to get plenty of attention on the lanes, and almost 60% of the total adjustments were within the trucks. With the overall positive adjustments at 37%, only 26% of the cars were increases while 44% of the trucks increased in value. Not only are these trucks moving better within the wholesale channels, that’s the case within the retail market as well. The Compact SUVs at +$52 are on a seven week run of positive changes week over week. This past week another smaller volume of players segment, the Cargo Mini Vans, showed a positive change of +$55.

The Mid-size Pickups are getting a lot of attention in both the new and used markets right now, and finished at -$2 for the week, after dropping only $7 the prior week. The Full-size Crossovers bumped the century mark this past week dropping by an even $100.

It’s great to spend time on the lanes where the wholesale market is established. We welcome you to share your thoughts and insight with us while there, by email or with a phone call. Thanks for tuning in and your interest in this video blog. We wish for you an active and profitable week.