Black Book: 22 of 24 Vehicle Segments Decline in Value

This past week with almost 1,950 vehicles adjusted each day, at 20 percent of adjustments being increases to the value, this was the smallest number of positive adjustments since the week ending November 19, 2010, reports Ricky Beggs, managing editor at Black Book in his weekly edition of Beggs on the Used Car market.

Beggs reports that the -$78 change of all the adjusted vehicles this past week was the largest amount dating back for 22 weeks to the week ending February 18, 2011.

This is the second consecutive week where all 10 car segment types have declined and the fourth straight week of overall car decline, Beggs reports. "The overall change to the cars for the week was a meager -$18," he writes.

The overall truck segments average change has declined for the previous 10 weeks, he writes, with this week's -$51 being the largest decline during the 10-week run. Only the Mid-size Pickup Trucks (up $8) and the Cargo versions of the Minivans (up $1) were increasing segments for the week.

"We see the used market making a slight adjustment in order to create room for a new model year that is and will be entering the market," Beggs writes. "Several dealers have told me recently that they feel the market adjustment will not be as much as we would normally see due to the current limited supply of used cars."

Beggs says that a bright spot in the market is five- to six-year old solid average or clean vehicles. "We are seeing fewer no sales on the auction lanes of the models from that older vintage," Beggs says.