(December 12, 2014) MCLEAN, Va. — According to the NADA Used Car Guide's most recent Guidelines report, vehicles sitting in driveways and used car lots managed to keep more of their value this past month, due to strong demand within the used vehicle market and a decrease in cars sold at wholesale auction.

Jonathan Banks, executive analyst for the NADA Used Car Guide said, "Usually wholesale auction volume decreases during this time of year ― and it did, again. This time, however, it fell even a bit more than normal." Banks went on to say, "If there are less used vehicles in the marketplace, then competition increases, and values hold a little better as a result."

Due to November's strong performance, NADA's seasonally adjusted used vehicle price index rose about 2 points over October, bringing it to 123 points. For context, the figure is almost even with last year, where the index stood at 124 points.



For December's forecast, NADA Used Car Guide analysts expect prices to fall slightly by about 1.5 percent, a normal dip for the time of year. The drop in prices can be attributed to poor performance within the compact and luxury car segments, the biggest forecasted losers for the month.

While used vehicle depreciation rates slowed to one of the lowest levels of the year, the new vehicle market was in high gear. For the 10th straight month versus the same time last year, new vehicle sales have increased, up 4 points in November over the previous month. As a result, the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) hit nearly 17.1 million vehicles.

There are a variety of factors that contributed to November's robust new vehicle sales, not limited to the use of manufacturer-to-dealer incentive spending. For the 22nd consecutive month, NADA Used Car Guide analysts observed average spending from all manufacturers to be just below $2,900.