OPENLANE Canada Price Index for August

OPENLANE Canada is the largest provider of wholesale used vehicle auctions in Canada. The Index is calculated from millions of pieces of sales data from OPENLANE Canada’s live open bidding auctions.

August 2023

The OPENLANE Canada Used Vehicle Price Index has been updated through June 2023. The index increased by 0.1% after being adjusted for seasonality.

August 2023 new vehicle sales saw positive increases versus August 2022, which continues the streak of positive gains that has been made each month in 2023.

The Canadian industry improvements are due to pent up consumer demand despite several years of interrupted sales due to the pandemic and microchip shortages, and most recently by the economic decline. Overall ALG expects to see a longer trendline of low used and new vehicle inventory, the slow return of incentives, and record high MSRPs as part of the near-term auto industry.

Price movements by segment were mostly negative in August. Midsize showed the most decrease at -10.0% ($2,744), Midcompact at -1.1% ($211), Compact SUV at -0.5% ($124), and Fullsize Pickup at -0.2% ($70). Some positive movements were Midsize at 3.2% ($616) and Minivans at 1.2% ($272).

How OPENLANE calculates the UVPI

OPENLANE Canada is the largest provider of wholesale used vehicle auctions in Canada. The Index is calculated from millions of pieces of sales data from OPENLANE Canada’s live open bidding auctions. The data is adjusted for a large number of variables, including type of vehicle, mileage, age and season. A two-step statistical filtering process excludes extreme values in the raw data. The resulting Index provides a picture of the Canadian used vehicle market and depicts the trend of used vehicle prices in Canada.

OPENLANE Canada notes that the index provides insight into the economy as a whole and consumer spending patterns. It also points to the direction of the used vehicle market and, by implication, of the new vehicle market, as there is a complex relationship between the prices of used and new vehicles which is reflected in the adage ‘Today’s new vehicle is tomorrow’s used vehicle’. Typically, used vehicle prices respond to many macro variables, such as the health of the overall economy, financing available to new versus used vehicles; the volume of vehicles in the pipeline, the age of vehicles on the road, the U.S. dollar exchange rate, incentives and the number of vehicles coming off lease.