The U.S. used-vehicle market has erased its earlier 2026 pricing gains, with wholesale values slipping below year-ago levels for the first time this year.
Cox Automotive’s mid-September Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index fell 1 per cent from August to 206.2, putting values 0.4 per cent below September 2025. The shift follows stronger-than-normal pricing during the first half of the year, including a spring increase that Cox attributed to the tax-refund season.
“The market has fully given back the stronger pricing trend from the spring’s tax-refund bounce and is now tracking a touch below last year,” said Jonathan Gregory, Senior Director at Cox Automotive, in a statement.
The pullback was not uniform across vehicle segments. Compact cars and EVs were the only major segments with values above year-ago levels at mid-month, while midsize cars, pickups and SUVs were lower.
EV values remained 2.3 per cent above last year despite declining 1.3 per cent from August. The non-EV index was down 1.3 per cent year over year and 1.4 per cent from August.
Other measures also pointed to softer demand. Sales conversion averaged 55.8 per cent during the first half of September, down 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier and 0.7 points from August. MMR retention averaged 99.6 per cent, up 0.6 points year over year.
Wholesale supply, meanwhile, continued to increase. Days’ supply reached 27.8 as of Sept. 15, about 2.4 days higher than a year ago.
