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On average, how many vehicles are on auto auction lots in the US? (eg. 20% have 3k+ cars, etc)
The average number of vehicles on auto auction lots in the U.S. is 311. About 1% of auction lots have more than 1,000 cars, about 33% have between 300 and 999 cars, 46% have between 100 and 299 cars, and about 20% have between 1 and 99 cars. Triangulation was necessary to provide an average number of vehicles on auction lots in the United States, so please find my calculations below. I also entered all inventory information, along with the corresponding auction lot on the attached spreadsheet so that I could be sure the calculated average was correct. The lots are listed in order of the one with the most vehicles to the one with the least.
Methodology
As there is no pre-compiled information regarding the average number of vehicles on auto auction lots in the U.S., I was required to compile data from as many auction sites as possible to provide a reasonable average. Many auction sites do not provide their inventory lists without website or dealer registration, but I was able to find 250 auction lot websites where I could view inventory numbers for their upcoming auctions. Since most auction sites offer multiple auctions, I only used inventory numbers for the very next auction on the schedule. It is important to note that the actual number of vehicles on an auction lot at any given time varies from day to day. In fact, some auction sites that only listed a few vehicles today mention they are expecting many more vehicles by the date of the auction. For this reason, I am only able to provide a rough estimate of the average number of vehicles on a U.S. auction lot.
To calculate the percentage of vehicles in each category, I added the number of car lots in each category and divided by 250. Again, this is just an estimate, as I was unable to access inventories for most dealer auctions and several public auctions without registering for the events.
Exclusions
Many auction houses offer vehicles for bidding; however, I only included auction lots that do not auction any other item besides vehicles. My reasoning behind this is that auction houses that do not specialize in vehicles do not always have cars or trucks up for bidding. In addition, I did not include classic car auction specialists such as Barrett Jackson or Mecum Auctions because they usually do not house the vehicles onsite, as they are typically sold through individual owners.
Conclusion
Of the 250 U.S. vehicle auction lots analyzed, Cherokee Auto Auction has the largest inventory, with 3,583 vehicles. This is followed by Live Auctions Philadelphia, with 1,629 vehicles and Live Auctions Maryland, with 1,358 vehicles.