Welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with the latest valuation data from Black Book. Now that we have reached the fifth month of the year, unless you are in Dutch John, Utah, or some other location of 8,000 feet of elevation or higher, we are probably through with the winter type weather, finally. We may also be past the peak of spring used car activity and overall strength of increasing values. Sure, 54% of the adjustments were increases in week over week values, but it is also the lowest percentage of increases since the week ending March 14, 2014.

As the reports came into the Black Book editorial office from our auction survey personnel, except for a few comments from some of the auctions in the Northern California area and also in the Northwest corner of the country, which indicated a stable market with good sales, there were many more indications of a market that was slightly off, with poor buyer response. A sign of tax season being behind us was supported with a comment about the “budget cars are down”. The comment that really said it all was that we just had a “regular end of the month sale”.

Just like two weeks ago, only four of the ten car segments increased in value for the week, and they are the same three segments that have increased for at least the past nine weeks – the Entry Mid-size Cars, the Compact Cars and the Upper Mid-size Cars. Joining the increases for the week was the Near Luxury Cars, solid for the past five weeks. Overall the cars finished at -$3 for the week. As a reference to the overall strength within the cars, one year ago the car market was much softer coming in at -$39.

Also according to Black Book, the truck market is holding on better, coming in at the lowest positive level of change during the seven week run of increasing values, this week at +$9. The interesting point is even with the small level of overall increase, there were still twelve of the fourteen truck segments that were increases, but five of those twelve were increases of only $6 or less. The Mid-size SUVs at -$8 were down for the first time in seven weeks. The remaining declining segment was with the Luxury SUVs at -$90. One year ago the average truck segment change was -$1, with the Luxury SUVs having the largest declining level then as well at -$44.

Another point of interest that we will continue to observe is the movement in the price of gas at the pump. With a second straight week of a $.03 increase we are up by $.13 during the month of April and $.38 since the first of the year to $3.71. This is also the peak value by $.03 over the past fifty-two weeks.

What’s ahead for next week? We will be watching to see if gas increases again, and to whether it is at a level that could have an effect on various segments of the market. We will also be looking to see if the first week of the month brings more aggressive bidding. What are your expectations? We hope to see you on the auction lanes. Have a great week.