Indexes from J.D. Power and Black Book both show that wholesale used-vehicle prices grew in May, as is typical in the spring selling season. But the growth was muted, another indication that prices are not surging on the scale they did in 2021.
J.D. Power’s Used Vehicle Price Index stood at 218.2 in May, up nearly 2.1 percent from April.
Last year was a different story: The index showed wholesale prices rose 6.9 percent in May 2021 from April 2021.
Prices remain up 20.4 percent year over year, according to J.D. Power’s index.
Black Book index
Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index rose 1.8 percent from April to May, its first tick up since January.
The index reached 188.8 points in May, 3.4 points higher than its April level, Black Book said June 9. The May index number is up 18.3 percent from May 2021 and up a whopping 78.1 percent from May 2020.
Wholesale prices were in a bit of a cooldown in February, March and April, according to Black Book’s data. The drop from January to February was the first time Black Book registered wholesale prices falling since July 2021.
Manheim index
Cox Automotive released its own monthly index update on June 7.
The company said its Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which tracks vehicles sold at Manheim’s U.S. auctions, rose just 0.7 percent from April to May.
Prices were 9.7 percent higher in May than they were a year prior. Those numbers are adjusted for mix, mileage and seasonality. On a nonadjusted basis, prices rose 1.1 percent in May from April, with prices up 12 percent year over year.