Following a year where overall auction volume fell more than 7 percent, 2012 opened with what appears to be a sign of progress in the lanes, according to the National Auto Auction Association, which said the year-over-year volume decline continued to slow down during the first three months of the year.

More specifically, the association said in its first-quarter Auction Industry Report that overall auction volumes were down 0.9 percent year-over-year during the period. This compares to a 2.9-percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2011 and a 7.3-percent softening for full-year 2011.

“Auction volume continued to improve in the first quarter, only declining about 1 percent after a decline of 2.9 percent in the previous quarter,” said NAAA economist Ira Silver, who prepared the report.

“These small declines compare to an average 8.5 percent quarterly decline in the first three quarters of 2011,” he added. “As the year goes on, we expect volume to firm and are looking for a slight increase in 2012.

Breakdown of Volume Trends

Additionally, NAAA broke down the volume trends by region, consignor type and vehicle segment.

Starting with regions, the Southeast (up 1.3 percent year-over-year) and the Northeast (up 0.9 percent) were the only ones to see an uptick in auction volume in the first quarter. The Southwest saw no year-over-year change, while the Far West was down 3.5 percent and the North Central region was down 5 percent.

Looking at consignor types, dealer consignment volume in the auction lanes increased more than 8 percent during the first quarter. And while consignment from fleet/lease and OEM channels was still down, their declines have mellowed from the full-year downturns in 2011.

“First quarter dealer consignment continued strong while the drag from fleet/lease and factory was less than in 2011,” Silver said.

“This year, higher dealer consignment volume associated with better new sales will continue adding to total auction volume,” he continued. “As the negative impact of weak new sales in 2008 and 2009 lessens, total auction volume is expected to stabilize and then increase during the second half."

Specifically, dealer consignment was up 8.3 percent from the first quarter of 2011. Last year as a whole saw a 10.7-percent spike in dealer consignment.

Fleet/lease volume dropped 9.4 percent year-over-year during the opening quarter of 2012, but this decline is less steep than the 23.1-percent decline for full-year 2011.

Likewise, manufacturer/factory volume dipped 14.5 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, but again this compares to a much heavier 25.6-percent decrease for the entirety of last year.

Repossession volume was off 66.4 percent. For full-year 2011, repo volume fell 25.2 percent. Delving into vehicle types, passenger cars were flat, pickup volume fell 3 percent, utility volume dipped 0.1 percent and van volume was off 5.3 percent.