Thanks largely to the negative impact of surging gas prices on pickup truck volume, overall auction volume during the first quarter was 8.6 percent softer than the year-ago period, according to the latest Auction Industry Report from the National Auto Auction Association.

This drop follows a 2-percent year-over-year upswing during the final quarter of 2010.

Breaking it down by region, the Northeast was the only one of the five regions not to show a year-over-year drop during the first quarter, as its auction volume remained flat.

The North Central region had the most significant softening (down 14.2 percent), followed by the Far West (down 12.4 percent) and the Southwest (down 12 percent). Auction volume in the Southeast was off 7.5 percent.

“The Northeast continued to lead with a flat first quarter performance, compared to large declines in the other regions,” wrote NAAAA economist Ira Silver, who authored the report.

By sales type, dealer consignment volume was the only segment to show improvement, as it climbed 12.4 percent. Manufacturer/factory volume was off 27.7 percent, repossession volume slid 25.7 percent and fleet/lease volumes dropped 24.5 percent.

“Weak past new sales into leases and rental cars are continuing to reduce overall current volume, as fleet/lease and manufacturer/factory were both down over 20 percent in the first quarter,” Silver noted. “Strong new sales led to a double-digit gain in dealer consignment, while the improved economy reduced repo volume by about 25 percent.”

Among vehicle segments, all five in NAAA’s analysis weakened in terms of volume, but the declines in vans (down 1.7 percent) and crossovers (down 4.8 percent) were not as dramatic as SUVs (down 8.3 percent), passenger cars (down 8.8) and  pickups (down 14.8 percent), the latter of which were especially soft.

“Passenger cars declined 8.8 percent against a relatively strong performance in first quarter 2010,” Silver pointed out. “Going forward, higher gas prices will likely reduce volume and prices for less gas-efficient pickups and SUVs.”

Pricing

Moving on to discuss auction prices, NAAA indicated that they were flat on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter, climbing 0.1 percent from the same period of 2010.

“First quarter average auction prices were flat with the previous year as weak demand for low mpg pickups and SUVs led to price declines,” Silver shared.