Wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix, mileage, and seasonally adjusted basis) decreased 4.0% in August from July. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index declined to 210.8 but is up 8.4% from a year ago. The non-adjusted price change in August was a decline of 2.6% compared to July, leaving the unadjusted average price up 5.9% year over year.
In August, Manheim Market Report (MMR) values saw larger-than-normal declines that were consistent over the month. Over the last four weeks, the Three-Year-Old Index decreased a net 2.5%. Over the month of August, daily MMR Retention, which is the average difference in price relative to current MMR, averaged 98.3%, meaning market prices were below MMR values. The average daily sales conversion rate increased to 50.5%, which was below normal for the time of year. For example, the sales conversion rate averaged 56.4% in August 2019. The lower conversion rate indicated that the month saw buyers with more bargaining power for the time of year.
All major market segments saw seasonally adjusted prices that were higher year over year in August, except for full-size cars. Compact cars had the largest increase at 15.9%, followed by vans and midsize cars, which all had seasonally adjusted year-over-year gains ahead of the overall industry. Compared to July, all eight major segments’ performance was down. Sports cars lost nearly 5%, while compact and midsize cars declined 3.5% and 3.0%, respectively. SUVs were down 4.3%, and vans were down 2.9%.
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