The average sale price for used vehicles from fleet leasing consignors increased 1.9% to $12,706 in January from the prior month and 3.9% from January of 2018, according to Tom Kontos, KAR's chief economist.

Used fleet vehicle values are continuing their strong performance, and again outpaced vehicles consigned to auction by manufacturers and dealers. Manufacturer vehicles fell 2.6% on the month and 2.9% from a year ago, while dealer vehicles fell 1.6% from December and 2.1% from a year ago.

"Auction prices for off-lease units were again a major bright spot, as upstream remarketing continues to be effective in distributing supply across multiple channels," Kontos wrote in his monthly commentary. "Retail sales were affected by severe weather conditions."

Overall, used wholesale vehicle prices in January fell for the third month in a row, when compared to a year ago. The average wholesale used vehicle price of $10,761 was down 2% from January 2018 and up 1.3% from December.

Most segments were lower from a year ago, except compact SUVs and compact pickups.

Fleet leasing sales of three-year-old units with between 36,000 and 45,000 miles for midsize cars and midsize SUVs also increased from a year ago. Midsize cars increased 3.5% to $11,867, while midsize SUVs increased 0.5% to $20,308.