Depreciation in used-car prices slows down last week
Wholesale vehicles price drops lessened a bit last week, with an average decline of 0.38%, says Canadian Black Book.
CBB data shows car segment prices dropped by 0.23%, while pickups and SUVs prices fell 0.53%. This continues a trend of truck depreciation being higher than that of cars, except for the small pickup segment.
Although depreciation rates weakened last week, still none of the 22 segments CBB tracks saw prices increase during the week.
Seeing the biggest price declines were the full-size cars (down by 1.03%), followed by the subcompact crossover and subcompact luxury crossovers with drops of 1% each.
Looking at car segments, all but one declined in price, as the premium sporty car segment didn’t change at all from the week prior. CBB head analyst Daniel Ross told Auto Remarketing Canada in a recent interview that sporty car prices are holding stronger than most during the second half of 2023.
Prestige luxury cars and luxury cars saw the least impactful price drops, down 0.01% and 0.08%, respectively. Full-size cars dropped the most, with a decline of 1.03%, followed by sporty cars (down 0.75%).
Trucks experienced slightly larger depreciation last week. Subcompact crossovers (down 1.03%) and subcompact luxury crossovers (down 0.99%). Minivans followed closely behind. Midsize crossover/SUVs (down 0.94%) and full-size pickups (0.80% decline) dropped more significantly, as well.
Price drops this past week followed historical norms for the season, CBB said. Supply remains low, keeping depreciation at a minimum.
That said, as far as the supply problem for new cars goes, there may be hope on the horizon. CBB analysts said the global semiconductor shortage is improving over last year as the numbers show an expected global cut of 2.466 million vehicles this year. This is significantly down compared to last year’s final number of 4.388 million.
“With only 20,000 more vehicles to be cut from production for the remainder of the year, the scenario has improved continuously throughout 2023,” CBB said.
CBB reported many segments last week in the lanes saw a drop of more than $100 in average value last week.
Once again, conversion rates were quite low this past week, according to CBB.
Some observed sell rates were as low as 6% and as high as 49% but most were less than 30%.
CBB once again saw sellers dropping floors, which has been contributing to lanes with lower sell rates.
The average listing price for used vehicles was slightly down week-over-week, as well, CBB reported, as the 14-day moving average was at roughly $37,900.
In the U.S. market, prices are dropping at a quicker rate for wholesale. Last week, car and truck segments fell by an average of 1.49%, while cars fell by a rate of 1.82%, which both represent larger declines than the week prior.