Auction sales reach highest level in nearly 6 years
Larry Dixon of the National Auto Auction Association is pictured during a panel discussion at Used Car Week 2024 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Photo by Jonathan Fredin.
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Not since mid-COVID have sales at auto auctions been as strong as they were in March.
According to AuctionNet data from the National Auto Auction Association, wholesale vehicle sales climbed nearly 4% year-over-year in March and reached their strongest point since July 2020.
While dealer sales at auction have slowed this year, sales from commercial consignors rose more than 12% year-over-year in the first quarter and jumped 14% in March (selling-day adjusted), NAAA said.
In what should come as good news for dealers looking for certified pre-owned inventory, late-model vehicles are driving some of the gains in commercial consignment.
NAAA said 1-year-old vehicles represented a 12% share of commercial sales in March, compared to 9% in March 2025.
There was also a 23.5% year-over-year spike in sales of 3-year-old vehicles during March and an 8% increase for Q1, thanks to stronger off-lease volumes pushed by strong leasing numbers in 2023.
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Dealer sales at auction fell 4.8% in Q1 and were off 6% for March.
“Dealers, however, remained active buyers ” said Larry Dixon, NAAA’s vice president of Auction Data Solutions/AuctionNet, in an analysis around the data. “Supported by strong tax refund activity, bidding intensified in March, driving prices up 3.0% from February 2026 to an average of $20,667 for 2-to-8-year-old vehicles.
“This increase was 1.3 percentage points higher than the same period in 2025 and marked the largest March gain since 2023,” Dixon said. “Prices were also more than 6% higher than in March 2025.”
