It has been a “leap year” in more than one sense for wholesale vehicle volumes.

There have already been 1.12 million units sold at auction year-to-date through February, which is a 13% increase from the first two months of 2023, according to AuctionNet data from the National Auto Auction Association shared exclusively with Auto Remarketing.

That includes a 16.9% year-over-year uptick in auction sales last month, which NAAA said was the strongest hike in more than two years. It was helped in part by the extra day and warmer temperatures.

There were 576,601 vehicle sales at auction last month, which was the strongest February since 2020, NAAA said.

And a big part of that growth has come from commercial consignment.

Commercial sales climbed 30% year-over-year in January, then jumped 39% in February. After falling 3% in January, dealer consignment was up 5% last month.

The gap between commercial and dealer share also narrowed from a year ago. When “other” sale types like as-is or salvage are excluded, AuctionNet data indicates that 54% of auction sales were dealer units last month, with commercial sales at 46%.

A year ago, 61% was dealer consignment and 39% was commercial volume.

There was also a spike in late-model vehicles at auction, with a 17% year-over-year uptick in sales of vehicles 3 years old and newer, NAAA said.

That said, the AuctionNet data also showed double-digit-percentage gains for other age groups, as well.

And while 3-year-old and newer vehicles commanded a 22% share of auction sales last month, that’s down from a 35% share in February 2019.

Another segment of note: battery-electric vehicles.

Their 7,531 sales at auction last month represented just a 1.3% share of the overall market, but was a 91.9% year-over-year increase, according to segmentation data provided to AuctionNet by Black Book.

Among the other listed segments in the data set, midsize luxury crossovers/SUVs had the most significant increase in sales (29.4%), followed by compact crossovers/SUVs (27.2%) and midsize crossovers/SUVs (up 24.8%).

Note: This is part of a new monthly series in which Auto Remarketing shares AuctionNet data and commentary provided by the National Auto Auction Association.

As noted by the organization, more than 260 NAAA member auctions power AuctionNet, making it the most comprehensive source of wholesale auto auction sales data in the U.S. Unless otherwise noted, auction sales figures are based on total reporting auctions, the number and composition of which may vary over time.