CARMEL, Ind. –

Wholesale prices last month softened 0.3 percent from January, but still beat year-ago levels by more than 3 percent. The reason, says ADESA’s Tom Kontos, has a lot to do with the supply of off-rental program/factory vehicles.

Specifically, the latest Kontos Kommentary report put out by ADESA Analytical Services indicates that the average wholesale price in February was $10,176. This was off 0.3 percent month-over-month but represents a 3.4-percent upswing from February 2014.

Kontos said the increase was “primarily due to a ‘richer mix’ that includes a higher proportion and quantity of off-rental program/factory units.”

Adding some more context to that, he noted in the report: “As in January, much of the positive year-over-year price variance is driven by higher off-rental program/factory vehicle sales.

“Program vehicles are typically current-model-year or one-year-old models that sell for higher average prices than other auction sales types.”