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Black Book: Used Retention Index Rises on Early Spring Selling Activity

The spring selling season got off to an early start, leading to a slight month-over-month uptick in the firm’s Used Vehicle Retention Index. The big question is how the harsh weather that has recently struck parts of the country will impact values moving forward.

by Staff
March 8, 2018
1 min to read


LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Black Book’s Used Vehicle Retention Index showed a slight uptick from January to February, inching up from 113.1 to 113.3. On a year-over-year basis, the index was down from 113.9 in the year-ago period.

The February reading is reflective of the slight bump from early spring selling season activity, according to the firm. Several car segments, in particular, realized value retention increases during the month. Compact cars and subcompact cars each rose 1.6%, while mid-size cars were up 1.2% and full-size cars were up 0.4%.

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“There were few surprises in how the index responded this past month, especially given the early spring selling activity, particularly in non-luxury car segments over the last few weeks,” said Anil Goyal, executive vice president of operations at Black Book. “The biggest question at this point is how long the spring selling season will last given the harsh weather that has recently hit parts of the country, and whether or not any of this buying activity will reach certain truck segments.”

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