LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.—Is there no end to the road when it comes to rising used car values? There doesn’t seem to be, as used values continued there march upward in November, with the Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index reached another record high.
Black Book reported the Index increased to 189.9 points, a 9.7 point (or 5.4%) increase from October (180.2). The Index currently stands 45.4% above where it was this same time last year.
“With no short-term resolutions to new inventory problems, dealers are continuing to spend money on used inventory, pushing wholesale prices up to new records across all segments in November,” said Alex Yurchenko, chief data science officer at Black Book. “Cars of all sizes and vans had the largest increases as used and new inventory in those segments declined to much lower levels compared to other segments of the market. We expect the used car prices to increase again in December but at a much lower rate as the volume of new inventory is starting to level off and consumer demand is softening a bit with record breaking used retail prices.”
How Index is Calculated
The Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index 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.
Click here to obtain a copy of the latest Index data.