Home » Rising diesel prices & declining spot rates impacting today’s used transportation equipment market

Rising diesel prices & declining spot rates impacting today’s used transportation equipment market

fleetnewsdaily | June 22, 2022

While pricing remains strong year over year, Ritchie Bros.’ June Market Trends Report shows moderating inflation rates for most truck and equipment categories

With its June Market Trends Report, Ritchie Bros. takes a closer look at trends in the used transportation equipment market. According to its latest price indexes, truck tractor prices are up approximately 46% year over year in the United States, but the rate of increase is down 6 percentage points from last month. Similarly, in Canada, prices are currently up 34% year over year for truck tractors, but down 9 percentage points from the May report.

“We have now seen two sequential months of declines for our truck tractor price indexes in the U.S. and Canada, compared to the peak levels we saw in February of this year,” said Doug Olive, Senior Vice President (Pricing), Ritchie Bros. “The transportation industry is currently facing headwinds with declining spot rates and record-high diesel prices, which is having a direct impact on the used market, particularly for older, high-usage trucks.”

Over the past six months, van and reefer spot rates have dropped as much as -13 to -14%, while weekly diesel prices have increased approximately 58%.

Between April and May of 2022, Ritchie Bros. sold approximately 395 Freightliner Cascadia truck tractors in the United States, with an average age of seven years and achieved a median price of US$40,000. Earlier this year, in February and March, the same age trucks were achieving a median price of US$43,000 (-7% change). Interestingly, Cascadias sold in Canada saw a price increase over this same time period, but they were slightly newer units. Truck tractors sold in Canada in April and May 2022 had a median age of six years and achieved approximately 18% higher prices than the two months prior, when the median age was seven years.

Ritchie Bros.’ June Market Trends Report also includes charts and data for International Prostar, Peterbilt 579, and Volvo VNL truck tractor sales. Download the report to learn more at rbassetsolutions.com/market-trends-report.

Used Commercial Assets – Pricing Highlights Price change (±1.5%) year-over-year for the 3 months ending May 31, 2022
Categories	USA	CANADA
Large Earthmoving	**	Δ	Increased ~	13 %
Medium Earthmoving	Δ	Increased ~	27 %	**
Aerial	Δ	Increased ~	26 %	Δ	Increased ~	13 %
Truck Tractors	Δ	Increased ~	46 %	Δ	Increased ~	34 %
Vocational Trucks	Δ	Increased ~	28 %	Δ	Increased ~	19 %