Wholesale used car prices hold steady so far this month

In the first half of December, wholesale used vehicle prices remained unchanged compared to last month. 

By the numbers: The Manheim Used Vehicle Index, which tracks prices that car dealerships pay for used cars at auctions, rose year-over-year by 0.7% — continuing the trend of slower depreciation in the second half of the year, according to Cox Automotive.

• Prices in the Three-Year-Old Index fell by 0.5% – more than the normal decline typically seen this time of year historically.

• The average daily sales conversion rate was 59.9%, which was over 4% higher than the full month of November and much higher than it has been over the past three years  (~53.0%).

• Manheim Market Report (MMR) Retention, which measures how closely average auction transaction prices align with market value, averaged 99.8%.

Key quote: “We’ve continued to see tighter wholesale supply at Manheim over the last several weeks, and it has further declined in early December as sales conversion remains elevated,” said Jeremy Robb, senior director of Economic and Insights at Cox Automotive.

By segment: Compact car sales rose by 0.8% compared to November. Midsize cars and SUVs were down just 0.4%, and pickups rose by 1.2%, while the luxury segment also dropped by 0.7%. Non-EV declined by 0.2%, with EVs increasing by 3.5%.

Bottom line: Inventory across wholesale and retail used car markets is getting tighter – especially as dealer demand surges. And this marks the second consecutive report where the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index shows year-over-year growth, suggesting that wholesale prices may have hit a low point… for now.

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