LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – Black Book, a division of Hearst that provides industry-leading used vehicle valuation and residual value forecast solutions, today released its Used Vehicle Retention Index for December 2021. The Index increased to 195.7 points, 5.8 points (or 3.1%) increase from November (189.9). The Index currently stands 52.0% above where it was this same time last year.  

Click here to obtain a copy of the latest Index data.     

“During the last two weeks of 2021, we started to see declines in wholesale prices in multiple segments, leading to only a small increase in the overall monthly Retention Index,” said Alex Yurchenko, Chief Data Science Officer at Black Book. “As new inventory levels leveled off (and improved for some OEMs) and consumer demand softened, demand at wholesale channels slowed down at the end of the year. We expect a stable wholesale market in January, even as the number of COVID cases increases significantly across the country.”   

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, click here.