The volume of used Class 8 trucks sold in May fell 12% below that scored in April, per the latest “State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks” released by ACT Research (ACT).
“The volume drop was expected, since sales usually slow during the summer months,” said Steve Tam, ACT’s vice president-- Commercial Vehicle Sector.
He pointed out that while both fleets and dealers are “now beginning to talk about fleet expansion,” they aren’t necessarily trading in the same number of trucks that they’re buying.
“The result is potential perpetuation of a lack of desirable inventory in the used truck market,” contended Tam.
“However,” he added, “the units that are making their way into used-truck inventory tend to be younger and have lower mileage than the industry has seen in a while.”
Concurring with ACT’s finding on May volume was the latest “Commercial Truck Monthly Report” for May on the vehicle-resale market prepared by The Truck Blue Book (TBB).
According to TBB, used-truck volume continued to fall between April and May for both the heavy- and medium-duty asking and auction markets. “Heavy- duty asking volume is down another 32% after the large drop in April,” TBB pointed out.
TBB reported as well that used-truck prices also declined in May, coming down notably from their April highs, with prices on the private market falling by 6% and those at auction by 25%.
The ACT Research used-truck report provides data on the average selling price, miles and age of used trucks based on a sample of industry data. The report also provides the average selling price for top-selling Class 8 models for each of the major truck OEMs: Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).
Click here for subscription information on ACT’s full report.
