Wholesale vehicle prices fall at ‘quickest sustained rate’ since COVID-19 began
2024 is kicking off after a month of continued wholesale price declines.
According to the Canadian Black Book Used-Vehicle Retention Index, prices in Canada fell by an average of 2.3% in December.
Declines in value continued at the quickest sustained rate since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBB reported.
The index now sits at 146.8. Year-over-year, this number represents a 6.9% drop in prices from December of 2022.
“December saw wholesale prices continue to decline at the quickest sustained rate since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Increasing new car supply and high interest rates continue to decrease used-vehicle demand, but we are far from pre-pandemic values,” said David Robins, principal automotive analyst and head of Canadian vehicle valuations at CBB, in a press release.
The market continues to correct after peaking in March of 2022 at 165 Index points.
Before March 2022, there was an “unprecedented growth” in used values beginning in the late summer 2020.
That said, that trend was also a correction from when the Index was as low as 100.5 points.
As for December, looking at the month-over-month change in prices, there were still six vehicle segments to see value growth. Compact vans came in first with appreciation of 2.69%, followed by premium sporty cars with a rise of 0.23%.
Sporty cars also saw the most year-over-year appreciation, with rates spiking by 11.08% from December 2022.
On the other hand, full-size luxury CUV/SUVs and midsize crossover/SUVs saw the biggest decline month-over-month, both dropping in price by 3.39%.
Year-over-year, full-size luxury CUV/SUV saw the largest drop of any segment, declining in price by 15.28%.