Used vehicle wholesale and retail prices continued their decline since the start of the year this past week.
According to Black Book’s weekly market insights, the wholesale prices and retail prices dropped for a third straight week. Wholesale car prices fell by 0.69 percent or $107 and truck prices 0.5 percent or $106.
Black Book’s retail listings weekly price index for two million vehicles on U.S. lots between 2- to 6-years-old showed a drop from the start of the year, continuing the trend mid-2022.
Used retail inventory also had a slight decline from the previous week. Vehicles are also taking a few extra days to turn since the start of the year, reaching 50 days this week. The Jan. 3 used retail days-to-turn was 46 days.
The estimated weekly sales rate was 46 percent, 1 percent higher than the past two weeks.
Even with the recent declines, prices and values of used vehicles remain elevated well above pre-pandemic levels.
Black Book published its used vehicle retention index at the start of January, which is calculated using Black Book’s published Wholesale Average value on two- to six-year-old used vehicles, as percent of original typically equipped MSRP. It is weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage and condition. To close December, the value index was a 169.5. While being a drop of 13.4 percent from the end of 2021, it was 47.9 percent above the March 2020 numbers.
At the end of 2022, the average wholesale price was $21,925 and the retail price was $28,375, according to Black Book. The retail prices are 35 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
