CARY, N.C. -

Auction volume for 2013 ended up beating prior-year levels by more than 6 percent, according to data reported by the National Auto Auction Association in its Economic Dashboard.

And based on the latest report from Manheim, wholesale volume growth — inside or outside the auction — isn’t likely to slow any time soon.

In the 2014 Used Car Market Report, Manheim Consulting director Scott Hatmaker explained that overall wholesale supply gains are expected for the next three years, although traditional auction volumes will remain softer than where they were at the industry crest 11 years ago.

The report notes that there are about 20 million wholesale transactions each year. NAAA-member auctions comprise roughly 8.2 million of those sales and non-NAAA members sell close to 1 million. Nearly 11 million are sold via non-auction processes (i.e. dealer-to-dealer trades or direct-to-consumer or –dealer sales from consignors)

The firm is projecting that wholesale volumes for auction and non-auction processes will be on the upswing through 2016.

“Although much of the growth will be accounted for by higher off-lease volumes, there will also be growth in the number of rental, commercial fleet, repossessions, and dealer units wholesaled each year,” Hatmaker said in the report.

“Traditional auction volumes will remain below the peak reached in 2003, since those highs were built upon the unstable foundations of heavy factory incentives and the use of program rental cars as a relief valve to absorb excess production capacity,” he continued.

“Unfortunately, two additional trends that were strong then are becoming more prevalent today: overestimated residual values leading to lower lease payments, and loans of longer terms to borrowers with lower FICO scores,” Hatmaker said. “With the majority of both new and used vehicles financed for terms exceeding five years, we may be learning old lessons again in the coming years.”

In looking at projected auction volumes for the next three  years — including non-NAAA member auction sales and online/off-site sales — Manheim is forecasting 4.8 percent growth in 2014, with volume expected to come in just under 10 million units. It is projecting 5-percent growth in 2015, with a 2.3-percent gain the year after.