STAMFORD, Conn. -

Canadian fuel costs reached almost a three-year-high in May, hitting $1.31 per liter. This was the priciest fuel in Canada since July 2008, when prices reached $1.39, according to RVI Group.

But expensive gas did more than just cause a financial headache at the pump.

It also had an impact on wholesale values, driving them up 13 percent year-over-year and 1.1 percent compared to April, RVI said.

With fuel going up, consumers lean toward smaller vehicles, pushing their prices up, explained RVI’s Wayne Westring. Since smaller vehicles are the dominant segment in Canada, the overall wholesale market sees a lift.

“Just looking at what’s increased since last year and where the most volume is in Canada … I assume a big part of that would be from gas prices,” Westring explained.

More specifically, the RVI Used Car Price Index came in at 0.989, compared to 0.978 in April and 0.875 in May 2010.

Breaking it down by vehicle category, all of the classes considered to be “volume segments” showed year-over-year increases during May, with compacts (up 23.2 percent) leading the way, followed by minivans (up 18.6 percent) and small sedans (up 15.3 percent).

Each of the volume segments saw price gains from April, except for midsize sedans (down 4.2 percent) and luxury small sedans (down 3.4 percent).

Midsize SUVs had the greatest sequential increase for volume segments (up 4.8 percent), with the small sedans (up 4.8 percent) next in line. Small SUVs climbed 3.6 percent sequentially.

Westring noted that: “The largest volume segments we see are compacts, small SUVs and minivans.”

And all three of these increased in value both year-over-year and month-over-month.