Used commercial trucks sales volume slows

Reported sales of used commercial vehicles (Classes 3 to 8) were off 20 percent in July compared to June, but unit sales were up year-over year and are still running 43 percent above 2009 on a year-to-date basis, according to ACT Research Co. (ACT).

In its latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, ACT further reported that average used truck prices continued to move slightly higher, despite a slight rise in average age and miles of sold units.

“The average mileage of used Class 8 trucks sold in July rose above trend due to a higher than average number of older trucks being wholesaled,” said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. “Anecdotal evidence suggests a shortage of late model, low mileage equipment.

“This trend will likely continue for several more months until new truck purchases increase and bring in equipment that sat idle during the economic slowdown,” added Tam.

The ACT Used Truck database contains approximately 2,500 transactions per month and more than 100,000 used truck transaction over the past decade. The company is working with used vehicle market participants to push the number of reported transactions significantly higher.

ACT estimates that approximately 10 percent of used Class 8 transactions are included in the database.

In the current report, ACT has initiated trend reports for the average used price for the top-selling Class 8 model for each of the major truck OEMs: Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo.

ACT is the recognized 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 China CV market. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as the banking and investment community.