Courtesy of J.D. Power

Courtesy of J.D. Power

Auctions saw roughly 273,000 late-model vehicles in January, a 33.8% rise from the month before, but a 0.8% decline from the same time last year, according to J.D. Power.

In a reversal from the new-vehicle trend of trucks overtaking cars in market share, auction volume from the 2015 to 2018 model years favored the car segment in January. Late-model car auction volume accounted for 54% of the auction volume in January while trucks accounted for 46%.

Prices for used vehicles up to eight years old fell an average of 0.6% in January. This decline is typical of this time of year, according to J.D. Power.

Luxury cars in particular struggled during the month and realized the highest depreciation during the month; the mid-size car segment, specifically, saw some of the highest depreciation among luxury cars at 3.1%.

One reason cited for the luxury segment’s poor performance was an influx of 2015-MY luxury vehicles returning to the market. Certain vehicles such as the Lexus GS and Audi A6 saw auction volume increase by 95% and 86%, respectively, during January. Given their age, these vehicles are likely to be returning to market off of a three-year lease.

While February numbers have not been calculated yet, as J.D. power waits for the month to end, the forecast for the month is for a 0.3% increase in wholesale prices for cars up to 8 years old. This would be an improvement from the year before when prices declined 0.9% in February.

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