Page 20 - On The Move - Volume 17, Issue 4

holesale used vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage-, and
Wseasonally adjusted basis) increased 3.64% month- Jonathan Smoke
over-month in August. This brought the Manheim Used Vehicle Chief Economist

Value Index to 163.7, a 15.8% increase from a year ago and Cox Automotive
Twitter - @smokeoncars
a record high for the Index.

Manheim Market Report (MMR) prices improved at a decel- Recovering retail results for vehicle sales. According to Cox
erating pace over the four full weeks of August, resulting in Automotive estimates, total used vehicle sales volume was
a 1.6% cumulative increase on the Three-Year-Old Index. In down 4% year-over-year in August. We estimate the August
the last full week of August, the Three-Year-Old Index declined used SAAR to be 38.0 million, down from 39.7 million last
0.1%, ending the streak of 16 weeks of price appreciation. August and flat compared to July. The August used retail SAAR
MMR Retention, which is the average difference in price estimate is 20.3 million, down from 20.7 million last year and
relative to current MMR, averaged 100.5% for the month and slightly down month-over-month from July’s 20.4 million rate.
ended the month under 100% for four of the last five days.
Likewise, the sales conversion rate declined over the course Used vehicle prices have recovered as the supply of used
of August but remained higher than normal for this time of the vehicles has come down. Using a rolling seven-day estimate
year. of used retail days’ supply based on vAuto data, we see that
used retail supply peaked at 115 days on April 8. Normal
On a year-over-year basis, all major market segments saw used retail supply is about 44 days’ supply. It ended August
seasonally adjusted price increases in August. Luxury cars at 38 days, so lower than normal. We estimate that wholesale
and pickup trucks outperformed the overall market, while most supply peaked at 149 days on April 9, when normal supply is
other major segments underperformed the overall market. 23. It was down to 24 days by month end.

com
a.
18 www
18 www.maada.com
.maad