By Christopher Crow, chief editor, CAP A great deal of trade commentary has been published regarding the historical turmoil the used car market faced over the last five years with the virtual collapse of values in 2008 and the subse-quent strong recovery in 2009, but going from previous recessions in the used car market, that was a fairly typical cycle. Little, however, has been documented on how the market changes throughout the month and whether there were any set patterns the market follows, other than a downturn in the last 10 days of the month ahead of the next month's valuation guide.To explore this point I've tracked the weekly changes in market values during the month of July, in what some have described as, the low point of the 2008 downturn.It revealed that trade values fell by 1% against CAP Clean in the first week of the month, falling further between weeks two and three before benefiting from a market-rallying 2% recovery in trade values. So in July 2008 the month-end was counterintui-tive to what we have become accustomed to expect, namely that market values tail off at the end of the month.Of course, looking at market values as a whole will only ever tell you part of the tale. If we look into the detail behind the market movements we can see that the weekly market changes differ markedly at a sector level. The top chart tracks, over the same period, the changes in the CAP Clean performance of the SUV, convertible, lower and upper medium sectors.The SUV and convertible sectors both rose into The real price dynamics 2012 weekly movement are much less exaggerated despite small movementsUsed car analysisFor daily automotive news visit www.am-online.com/newsweek two and then fell heavily towards week three. In contrast the lower and upper medium sectors fell consistently throughout the first three weeks then recovered slightly in the last week.Accepting that some of this movement will be a reflection of changes in model mix and vehicle condition it nevertheless doesn't explain all the dynamics that are evident in the chart.OK, so that was a turbulent time in the used car market, but what happens when the market is fairly level? To illustrate the point I've selected February 2012 which you can see in the chart above.As you'll no doubt observe, the weekly market movements when compared to July 2008 are much Selected sector % CAP by week - July 2008Selected sector % CAP by week - Feb 2012

New car marketNewsCV ShownewsUsed caranalysisNewsRecruitmentdigestDealerprofileShowroomdynamics of the used car marketless exaggerated though there are still movements, albeit small ones. However, if we dig further and re-examine the month looking at the same sectors as previously the changes are more marked, as the chart highlights.The lower and upper medium sectors steadily rose throughout the first three weeks before a marginal downturn into the last week. In contrast the SUV sector declined week-on-week throughout the whole month while the convertible sectors, after a slow first week, sharply improved in week three.This, in a nutshell, is why we have introduced Black Book Live. Purchase or disposal decisions are made on an almost daily basis and fine-tuning your timing for either activity can make a significant difference in terms of money gained or lost. Multiply each of those buy/sell decisions by the actual number of units involved and the fluctuations will add up to very considerable sums from day-to-day and week-to- week, even in a relatively stable market. Of course monthly market price variations will always be an important benchmark for reporting and decision making, but the days are gone when that level of detail will suffice. The market changes daily and that is why we are now endeavouring to reflect exactly how.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????