Strongest January for auction sales volumes in 5 years

It’s likely to be a more moderate and steady year overall, but what a start to 2025 for wholesale auction sales volume.

Last month marked the strongest January for auction sales in five years, according to the latest AuctionNet data and analysis from the National Auto Auction Association, and growth was especially noticeable for late-model vehicles. The latter should be taken with a grain of salt, given what’s in store for off-lease volumes this year — but first, a look at the overall numbers.

There were 604,761 wholesale auction sales last month, which beat January 2024 figures by 11% and was up 23% from December (which is typical for January), NAAA said.

It was also the best start to the year for auction volumes since January 2020’s total of 745,500 auction sales, the association added.

For vehicles up to 2 years in age, where off-rental cars represent a large share, auction sales jumped more than 15% year-over-year in January. There was a 20% spike in auction sales for 3-year-old vehicles, NAAA said, compared to a 2.2% jump for 4- to 6-year-old-vehicles and close to a 9% uptick for 7- to 11-year-old vehicles.

The changes in 3-year-old vehicle volumes will be something to monitor throughout 2025, with many throughout the industry expecting off-lease volumes to slow down significantly.

And overall volumes should also come down a bit.

“Looking ahead, auction sales growth should moderate as the year progresses, due in large part to an anticipated decline in off-lease sales and as disruptive winter weather, which can cause periodic volatility in sales performance, subsides,” Larry Dixon, who is NAAA’s vice president of Auction Data Solutions and AuctionNet, wrote in the analysis.

By seller type, dealer volumes were up close to 13% year-over-year last month and commercial volumes climbed 12%, NAAA said.

That follows a fourth quarter where dealer sales showed an average increase of 6% and commercial volumes were up an average of 14.7%.

By vehicle segment, compact luxury crossovers/SUVs and midsize crossovers/SUVs had the most significant year-over-year gains in January, each climbing 19.5%.

They were followed by full-size pickups (up 14.9%) and midsize luxury crossovers/SUVs (up 10.6%). The only segment in NAAA’s analysis to show a decrease was the compact car, whose volume was down 1.1% in January.

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.