Wholesale used vehicle prices have remained unchanged this past week, according to Canadian Black Book’s latest update, with the car segment up in value by 0.02% and trucks down by a mere 0.02%.
Mid-size cars were up 0.31% or $36, near-luxury cars increased in value by 0.23% or $45, and luxury cars were up 0.08% or $23. The premium sports car segment experienced a minor increase of 0.01% or $7. All other categories experienced declines — the main one being subcompact cars, with a 0.55% decrease.
Cars experienced increases in value in eight categories, most notably full-size minivans (up 0.29% or $58) and full-size pickups (up 0.25% or $68). However, five segments were down, with the minivan category dipping the most at 0.68% or -$103.
“Of the thirteen segments, five decreased in value and eight increased this past week,” said CBB. “The largest decrease was from the minivan segment at -0.68%. Two additional noteworthy declining segments were the compact crossovers, down by -0.45% and the full-size crossover/SUV which saw their values fall by -0.38%.”
In comparison, U.S. wholesale used vehicle prices this past declined in value for the car and truck segment, with cars falling 0.37% and trucks down 0.18%. The decrease marks the fourth week of decline in value for cars and the third week for trucks.
As for supply, CBB said the sentiment in the marketplace remains that used vehicle supply levels are much lower than would be ideal, but that the levels of demand at auction for export and domestic sale is still strong.
“The Canadian dollar continues to weaken this month, with declines of $0.012 just this past week,” said CBB. “So far in the month of September, the dollar has lost approximately 2.6% of its value. A weaker dollar will make Canadian used vehicles more desirable to acquire for export to the U.S.”
The average days to turn for used car inventory was found to be a 14-day moving average of 50 days, which is unchanged from the previous week and much lower than typical, non-COVID market conditions.
The real issue many Canadian dealers and the automotive industry as a whole will struggle with, more significantly than they are now, is shortages of new cars over the next 60-90 days as manufacturers make the switch from 2020 to 2021 model year sales. CBB said demand has, in many cases, “exceeded the production forecast of OEMs.”
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