LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011-2015 depreciated by 0.6% in March, Black Book reported today. Cars overall saw depreciation of 0.3% vs. trucks, which registered depreciation of 0.8%. All vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of 17.9%.

In March, four vehicles, including compact cars, sporty cars, compact vans and full-size vans, increased in value. Leading the way were compact vans, which saw its value increase by 2.1%. Vehicles in this segment, which include the Chevrolet City Express, Ford Transit Connect, Mercedes-Benz Metris, Nissan NV and the Ram C/V, finished March with an average segment price of $9,813, 2.1% increase from February.

On a year-over-year basis, however, compact Vans have depreciated 20.9%.

Full-size crossover/SUVs managed to retain their value. Vehicles in this segment, including the Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban, Dodge Durango, Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon and the Nissan Armada, ended last month with an average segment price of $25,016, a 14.9% drop from its year-ago price of $29,398.

Prestige luxury cars recorded the highest depreciation of all segments, dropping 3.7% in March. Vehicles in this segment, including the Audi A8, Porsche Panamera, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS 460, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the BMW 7-Series, began April with an average segment price of $35,939, a 26.7% decline from last year’s $49,000 price average.

"Vehicle retention values remain relatively stable as we move through the spring season," said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics. "Perhaps a mostly mild winter helped generate some sales momentum in early spring, and we’re seeing a lot of typical patterns, particularly among car segments, despite much talk of low demand over the past several months.”