Editor, Gazette-Journal:

When Mathews County residents receive their 2010 personal property tax bills in a few days, they may notice a difference in the evaluation of vehicles when compared to last year. The following information is provided to offer some explanation regarding the change in the truck, SUV and CUV values from last year. It is my intent to help answer questions and clarify the reasons for the change in value this year.

We are living in unprecedented times, and in recent memory, the market volatility has not been as severe as in the past two years. Normally, vehicle values tend to depreciate from month to month. Intuitively, in January 2010, we expected the value of any vehicle to be lower than the value of that same vehicle the previous January.

While that is the case for a number of vehicle segments, the segments that include SUVs, light-duty trucks, minivans and the smaller CUVs, are clearly the exception. All major vehicle valuation services, not just National...