LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Compact SUVs retained the most value in February thanks to cold weather, according to analysts at Black Book. The average price of 2009 to 2013 model year vehicles depreciated by 1.2% in February, matching January’s numbers.

Domestic cars depreciated by 0.9%, import cars lost 1.5%, domestic trucks fell 0.8% and import trucks changed -1.1%. Black Book expects 2015 depreciation to be near 14.5%, falling within the normal average annual depreciation of pre-recession years.

Luxury cars had the largest depreciation of any segment, losing 2.8% and selling at an average price of $34,714. The average price fell 18.8% from $42,739 a year ago.

Compact SUVs had the strongest retention in February, actually gaining .9%, the only segment with a positive change in the month. Trucks were the second best performing segment followed by upper mid-sized cars. The analysts at Black Book felt that colder weather patterns helped to strengthen truck segments.

“Perhaps the colder weather patterns helped heat up the sport utility and truck segments during February as we saw great strength in SUVs and crossovers,” said Ricky Beggs, editorial director at Black Book. “While overall depreciation finished at -1.2% on the month, there are segments we feel could turn more positive due to spring type activity and continuing economic improvement.”

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