After best year since 2019, auction sales continue rise

The growth that spurred the best year for auction sales since 2019 hasn’t taken a break.

Thanks to another lift in commercial sales, overall wholesale vehicle sales at auction improved again last month.

And that includes a big bump in off-rental vehicles hitting the market.

According to the latest AuctionNet data from the National Auto Auction Association, there was a 9% year-over-year hike in commercial consignment sales in February (selling-day adjusted) leading to a 2% overall increase in wholesale auction sales from a year ago.

Dealer sales, however, were down 4.4% from February 2025, NAAA said.

Through two months of 2026, wholesale auction sales have climbed 2.1% from the same period of 2025, with commercial sales grabbing a 52% share of that volume, according to NAAA.

This continues the growth from 2025, when led by commercial consignor volumes, annual auto auction sales volumes reached their highest point in six years, beat prior-year figures by more than 4% and have turned a corner from the pandemic-aftermath lows of the early 2020s.

There were more than 7 million units sold at auction in 2025.

The last time annual auction sales were that strong was before the pandemic, when 8.2 million units were sold in 2019, NAAA said.

And 2026 is already off to a hot start.

That’s thanks to strength in commercial consignor volumes, including a specific segment of late-model vehicles.

“Due largely to rental company defleeting, sales of 1-year-old vehicles (i.e., the 2025 model year in calendar year 2026) jumped by more than 50% on a year-over-year basis in February, with commercial volume comprising 75% of total sales for the group,” NAAA vice president Larry Dixon said in an analysis.

Among individual vehicle segments, crossovers and SUVs highlighted the month. Compact crossovers/SUVs showed the most growth in February, with sales climbing 10.9% year-over-year.

Midsize luxury crossover/SUV volumes rose 8.2%, compact luxury crossover/SUVs were up 7.2% and full-size pickup sales were up 6.9%.

There was a 1.8% increase in sales of midsize crossovers/SUVs.

Meantime, luxury car volume fell 4.7%. Midsize car sales were off 5.1% and compact car sales dropped 2.8%.

“Volume for the two car segments (midsize and compact) comprised 19% of total AuctionNet sales through February, while their utility counterparts accounted for 32% of sales,” Dixon said.

There were 14,164 sales of electric vehicles at auction last month, which is 36% higher than a year ago, underscoring the wave of EVs continuing to hit auctions.

As for the wholesale values of those vehicles, Dixon said, “EV price performance has been a mixed bag so far this year, with prices improving for some models over the first two months of the year and dropping for others

“For example, 2022/23 Tesla Model Y prices grew by an average of 1% from January to February 2026, while 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 2023 Nissan Ariya prices fell by 1.7% and 3.0%, respectively (note that wholesale prices overall grew by 1% over the period).”

Note: This is part of a 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.  Data below courtesy of AuctionNet/NAAA.