Average wholesale vehicle prices fell nearly 10% year-over-year last month and remain on the downward slope for June, according to the latest Kontos Kommentary analysis from ADESA chief economist Tom Kontos.
Specifically, average wholesale prices were at $16,116 in May, which was down 2.2% from April and 9.7% softer than May 2022, Kontos’ report said.
And the first half of June is showing even softer prices. In fact, Kontos points out that for the week ending June 18, they were at $15,204.
(It should be noted that May’s wholesale prices were still 38.7% higher than pre-pandemic levels, per Kontos’ report).
Likewise, the latest Black Book Market Insights report shows that wholesale prices for the week ending June 17 were down 0.38%, compared to a 0.37% decline the prior week. During the same week of 2017-2019, prices were down an average of 0.27%, Black Book said.
Of the 22 segments included in the Black Book analysis, 21 showed price declines the week of June 17. The only one to rise was the small pickup segment (up 0.11%).
The estimated average weekly sales rate at auction was 47%.
Adding some context around these numbers, Black Book analysts said in the report: “There are still a lot of IF’s and NO sales at most of the auctions across the country, which is reflected in the lower conversion rates we have seen in the last two weeks.