Preliminary Used Class 8 Volumes and Prices Rise M/M

Retail and wholesale markets both showed short-term improvements

Preliminary used Class 8 volumes (same dealer sales) increased 8% month-over-month in the final month of 2019, according to the latest preliminary release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks published by ACT Research, but longer-term, volumes dropped 3% compared to December of 2018. Year-to-date preliminary volumes dropped 14%.

Other data released in ACT’s preliminary report included month-over-month comparisons for December 2019, which showed that average prices dropped 1%, average miles increased 2%, and average age contracted 2% compared to November 2019.

According to Steve Tam, Vice President at ACT Research, “As we begin reporting on used truck activity for the last month of 2019, we also start to look ahead to what 2020 is likely to bring.” He continued, “While the new year will probably not be a mirror image of last year, we believe pricing will improve in the second half of the year, but remind those in the industry that ‘improve’ means ‘become less negative’.” Tam explained that for this to happen, excess, idle and underutilized trucks will need to be put back to work.

Commenting on individual market channel volumes, Tam noted, “The retail and wholesale markets both showed short-term improvements, up 5% and 36%, respectively, while the auction market fell 28% m/m. Longer term, the retail market rose 2% y/y, but the auction and wholesale markets both reported declines, falling 26% and 8% y/y, respectively. All three were down year-to-date.”

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