Shortage of inventory

Despite posting a 9% increase from May’s lackluster sales levels, the Class 3-8 used truck market continues to be impacted by a shortage of available inventory, according to ACT Research Co. (ACT).

Even with this most recent improvement, on a year-to-date basis, the used market is 6% behind the 2010 sales pace.

The update on the used market was reported in the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, published by ACT Research.

“Used truck mileage continues to edge up, in response to fleets holding onto their equipment longer,” said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. “The market is still awaiting some relief to the shortage of sellable inventory as well as upward price pressures.

Improving new truck sales will result in increased trade-ins, and should provide some relief to the market,” added Tam.

The report from ACT provides data on the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEM’s - Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).

ACT is the worldwide leading publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market.