THE CAR AND TRUCK FLEET AND LEASING MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE
The average sale price for used vehicles from fleet leasing consignors increased 1.9% to $12,706 in January from the prior month and 3.9% from January of 2018, according to Tom Kontos, KAR's chief economist.
This growth was in large part fueled by the strong performance of lower-priced vehicles. Compact cars and midsize cars, in specific, saw the strongest growth among all vehicle segments and outperformed the overall market.
Subcompact crossovers, compact luxury crossovers/SUVs, and compact vans fell by 1.78%, 1.61%, and 1.55% last week, representing the highest depreciation among all vehicles.
The two months of falling vehicle values may be an indicator of what depreciation might look like in 2019.
Online sales of used vehicles in the wholesale market likely exceeded 2 million in 2018, as remarketing technology made it easier for dealers to evaluate, bid, and buy vehicles beyond physical auction locations.
After several weeks of rising depreciation, vehicle values stabilized last week.
For the third year in a row — and fourth overall — Toyota has earned Kelley Blue Book's overall Best Resale Value Award for mainstream brand.
The average prices for used fleet vehicles sold at auction increased 6.2% to $12,464 in 2018, despite a weaker finish to the year that saw a 0.4% decline in December, according to Tom Kontos, KAR Auction Services' chief economist.
Prices and volume are not expected to plummet in 2019, but industry experts seem to feel that the best-case scenario will be a plateau, and more realistically, will fall slightly.
Vehicle manufacturers will sell 17 million new vehicles in 2019, which would represent only a 1.3% decline from a year that recorded a third consecutive year of more than 17 million new vehicles sold, according to Oliver Strauss, chief economist for TrueCar’s ALG.
The passenger car segment was a main contributor to the the rise in used-vehicle prices in 2018.
The average transaction price for a new vehicle in the U.S. was $37,577 in December 2018, a 1.3% increase from the same time in 2017.
CAR is a joint conference between Bobit Business Media, the National Auto Auction Association, and the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance.
Asset disposition solutions provider Remarketing by Element, a business unit of Element Fleet Management, has joined the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association's network of National Member Benefit partners.
Overall average wholesale prices softened in November from a year ago mostly due to 2017 prices that were elevated due to increased demand from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, even though values of former fleet vehicles increased, according to Tom Kontos, KAR Auction Services' chief economist.
The 2018 Conference of Automotive Remarketing (CAR) detailed the biggest topics concerning wholesale remarketing, and also elaborated on technological developments that may impact the industry as a whole. Read the full story here. Photos by Andy Lundin.
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