LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – Black Book, a division of Hearst that provides industry-leading used vehicle valuation and residual value forecast solutions, released its Used Vehicle Retention Index for June 2021 ascending to 166.0 Index points, a 6.5 points (or 4.0%) increase from May (159.6). The Index currently stands 44.2% above where it was the same time last year, during the begining of the recovery of the used market, after COVID-19 related closures in the Spring of 2020.“

Wholesale prices peaked in June and started to decline the week before July 4th,” said Alex Yurchenko, SVP, Data Science and Analytics. “Demand for new vehicles remained strong as inventory continued to drop almost daily. Available used inventory was increasing in June as demand cooled off a bit, although we are still about 8% below where we started the year. Low incentives levels on new vehicles, and limited new supply due to production slowdowns due to chip shortage and so on, helped the Retention Index to increase for the sixth month in the row to a new record. This month, all segments increased although at a slower rate than in May.”   

The Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index is calculated using Black Book’s published Wholesale Average value on two- to six-year-old used vehicles, as percent of original typically equipped MSRP. It is weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage, and condition. The Index offers an accurate, representative, and unbiased view of the strength of today’s used vehicle market values. 

To obtain a copy of the latest Black Book Wholesale Value Index, please click here.