October Used Class 8 Truck Sales Rise 10.7% Year Over Year
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Used Class 8 truck sales in October increased 10.7% year over year to 23,800 units from 21,500, ACT Research reported.
Sales also increased 9.7% sequentially from the 21,700 in September. The average retail sale price fell 13.1% year over year to $55,221 from $63,569 and 0.4% from the September price of $55,447. Average mileage increased 0.5% to 416,000 from 414,000 a year ago but fell 3% from 429,000 in September.
“Prices are expected to remain stable at or around the current level for the next couple of months before transitioning to y/y growth in early 2025,” ACT Research Vice President Steve Tam wrote. “Same-dealer Class 8 retail truck sales jumped in October, abruptly ending a pattern of slowing.”
RELATED: Class 8 Truck Sales Once Again Below Year-Ago Levels
J.D. Power found in its monthly market report that October auction sales offset lukewarm September results. It found that pricing was generally stable, with the swings in average prices resulting from the relatively small sample size of the benchmark group. Sleeper tractor auction prices decreased 6.4% sequentially to $44,857 for model year 2021. Model year 2020 decreased 1.4% to $35,825. Model year 2019 increased 17.5% to $28,302.
Tam
“Pricing is currently 4% lower than the strong pre-pandemic period of 2018 in nominal figures,” the J.D. Power report noted. “Stable pricing since the second quarter has kept the monthly depreciation average down to a very low 1.2%. These averages are just a broad overview.”
J.D. Power also found that retail sleeper pricing was essentially unchanged in October from September, but retail day cab pricing strengthened slightly. The report noted that the average sleeper tractor retailed during the month was 62 months old, had 456,590 miles and cost $58,759. The average sleeper also was one month newer, had 3.7% more miles and brought in 1.3% less money sequentially.
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“Late-model sleepers are now bringing 11% less money than the last strong pre-pandemic period of early 2019 in nominal dollars,” the J.D. Power report noted. “Compared with the last weak pre-pandemic period, late-model sleeper values are running 15% higher in nominal dollars or 6% lower in real dollars. Depreciation in 2024 is averaging 2.2% per month, which is historically typical.”
Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting noted in a report Dec. 3 that pre-buys won’t cause carriers to increase capacity because it will swing the pricing pendulum toward shippers and reduce truck utilization. But the report also warned that pre-buying while carriers keep capacity relatively stable could have significant implications on the used truck market and parts aftermarket sale environment.
“[It] would increase the supply of trucks on the used truck market, putting downward pressure on used truck prices as used truck demand remains relatively stable due to the freight environment,” the CMVC report noted. “A decrease in the average age of trucks operated by fleets as a result of the pre-buy implies fleets are operating newer-than-normal trucks, which will weigh on parts aftermarket sales.”
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