US Wholesale Cooled in July. Only One Half of Georgia's Market Shows It.
The Manheim index fell 1.4% in July, its second month below the March peak. In Georgia the median asking price of cars advertised before customs clearance dropped to $13,500 in August — the lowest of the six-month series — while locally cleared cars held at $12,800. The two halves of this market are priced by two different countries.
Median asking price by customs status, month of listing
August covers listings published to 17 August only.
Two halves of one market, priced by two countries
Every car advertised in Georgia falls on one side of a line: it has been cleared through Georgian customs, or it has not. Cleared cars are, in the main, local resale — a car already on Georgian plates, changing hands. Uncleared cars are the import lane, priced by whoever bought them at auction abroad and by what it cost to move them here.
For five months those two medians moved together and stayed about $1,200 apart. In August they separated. The uncleared median fell to $13,500, the lowest reading of the series, from $14,200 in July. The cleared median held at $12,800, exactly where it has been all year, inside a band of $12,650 to $13,000.
The obvious candidate for what changed is not in Georgia at all.
Two halves of one market, priced by two countries
Every car advertised in Georgia falls on one side of a line: it has been cleared through Georgian customs, or it has not. Cleared cars are, in the main, local resale — a car already on Georgian plates, changing hands. Uncleared cars are the import lane, priced by whoever bought them at auction abroad and by what it cost to move them here.
For five months those two medians moved together and stayed about $1,200 apart. In August they separated. The uncleared median fell to $13,500, the lowest reading of the series, from $14,200 in July. The cleared median held at $12,800, exactly where it has been all year, inside a band of $12,650 to $13,000.
The obvious candidate for what changed is not in Georgia at all.
Median asking price by customs status, month of listing
August covers listings published to 17 August only.
What happened upstream
Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index — the standard measure of US wholesale car values — closed July at 210, down 1.4% on June and about 2.5% below its March peak, against a long-run July average of a slight rise. Year on year it is still up 1.3%, so this is a cooling, not a collapse. Wholesale days' supply reached 28 days, 1.7 days more than a year earlier.
The composition of that cooling matters for Georgia. Non-electric values were up only 0.4% year on year while the EV sub-index rose 10.5%, and electric cars held above 4% of Manheim units for a second period. Compacts were the strongest segment year on year; SUV and pickup values fell, with weakness spreading into midsize cars.
Georgia buys a great deal of exactly what softened: mid-priced American-auction SUVs and sedans. If cheaper acquisition were going to show up anywhere in Georgian listings, it would show up in the uncleared half — and only there, because a car already sitting on Georgian plates was bought at some earlier price that no US auction can retroactively change.
Uncleared asking prices: lower quartile, median, upper quartile
The whole distribution moved in August, with the lower quartile falling furthest.
Testing the mix explanation
A falling median can always be a different car rather than a cheaper one, so the first question is whether August's uncleared stock is simply older or more worn.
Mostly, no. The median model year of uncleared listings has been 2021 every month since April, August included. The median odometer reads 76,800 km against 73,686 km in July — about 3,000 km more, a small move in the direction that would depress price, and not nearly enough to account for a $700 shift on its own.
The distribution moved as a whole rather than at one end. The uncleared quartiles went from $10,000 / $14,200 / $21,000 in July to $8,625 / $13,500 / $20,500 in August. The bottom quartile fell furthest, which fits a cooling that hit the cheaper end of US wholesale hardest, and is not what a handful of unusual listings would produce.
Testing the mix explanation
A falling median can always be a different car rather than a cheaper one, so the first question is whether August's uncleared stock is simply older or more worn.
Mostly, no. The median model year of uncleared listings has been 2021 every month since April, August included. The median odometer reads 76,800 km against 73,686 km in July — about 3,000 km more, a small move in the direction that would depress price, and not nearly enough to account for a $700 shift on its own.
The distribution moved as a whole rather than at one end. The uncleared quartiles went from $10,000 / $14,200 / $21,000 in July to $8,625 / $13,500 / $20,500 in August. The bottom quartile fell furthest, which fits a cooling that hit the cheaper end of US wholesale hardest, and is not what a handful of unusual listings would produce.
Uncleared asking prices: lower quartile, median, upper quartile
The whole distribution moved in August, with the lower quartile falling furthest.
The offsetting cost, and the honest limits
Cheaper cars are not automatically a cheaper landed cost. Drewry's World Container Index reached $4,339 per 40ft container on 13 August, up 1% and rising for a second consecutive week after three weekly declines. Ocean freight is moving against the buyer while auction prices move for them.
For anyone importing on current trends the two point the same way in timing terms: the US-side saving is available now, and the shipping leg is getting more expensive rather than less. That is a directional observation about published indices, not advice about any particular purchase.
Three limits belong on this finding. August is a partial month, containing listings to 17 August only, and a partial month can move on late arrivals. Customs status is a proxy for sourcing, not a country of origin — we do not observe where any car was bought. And an asking price is not a transaction: what we can say is that import-lane sellers are asking less than they were, at a moment when their most likely acquisition market got cheaper. Whether that is cause or coincidence takes another month of the same series to tell.
Methodology
US wholesale values are the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index published by Cox Automotive on 7 August 2026 for the month of July. Ocean freight is the Drewry World Container Index assessment of 13 August 2026. Georgian listing figures are from the AutoBridge listing database.
Between 2,094 and 4,624 uncleared listings and between 1,578 and 3,671 cleared listings per month, March to August 2026. August is a partial month, containing listings published up to 17 August only. Customs status serves as a proxy for sourcing: a car advertised before Georgian clearance is import-lane stock, a cleared car is predominantly local resale.
Listings first published 1 March to 17 August 2026; Manheim July 2026; Drewry week of 13 August 2026.