Used-truck prices in this year’s second quarter remained higher than those recorded for the first quarter, per the “Commercial Truck Monthly Report” for June on the vehicle-resale market just released by The Truck Blue Book (TBB).
TBB also found that volume for Q2 was down to the lowest level seen so far this year for both heavy and medium duty trucks.
“Throughout June, prices were up on all markets except heavy-duty asking prices,” advised the report’s author Jessica Carr, TBB’s associate analyst-- commercial trucks. “April saw some of the highest prices all year and June came in close behind after a positive month.”
The report also shows that the heavy-duty market saw “only a slight decrease” on asking prices while auction prices were “on the rise.”
At 18%, the medium-duty market enjoyed “a larger incline” in asking prices than did the heavy. The medium-duty auction market saw a significantly smaller change than heavy duty, scoring just a 4% increase. Volume on the auction market dropped for both heavy and medium trucks.
“There were decreases for all used trucks during May, but during June there were smaller declines on resale [2.2%] and a [45%] rise in prices on the auction market-- thus showing a different overall trend for the used-truck market,” Carr explained to FleetOwner.
“Overall used-truck prices-- including both the private-resale and the auction markets-- are actually closer to the April values,” she continued. “But that is driven more by the large increase in prices on the auction market and not so much by [activity on] the private market.”
Carr also pointed out that, generally speaking, trucks put on auction will be “the ones people are trying to dump quickly. At the moment, prices are rising at auction due to the age of used trucks up for sale continuing to decline-- and because lower-mileage trucks are being sold in comparison to previous months,” she added.
“Since these ‘better quality’ trucks were already entering the private market earlier in the year,” Carr elaborated, “the prices did not rise during June.”
However, she noted that the big jump in auction prices last month was not enough to offset the large falloff incurred in May. Still, TBB found that June’s average auction prices remain the second highest on market this year.
To view TBB's June report, click here.
And per the latest “State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks” report released by ACT Research, June saw the volume of used Class 8 trucks sold climb 10% above that recorded for May.
“June’s performance was a little counterintuitive, given that sales usually slow in the summer months,” commented Steve Tam, ACT’s vp-- Commercial Vehicle Sector. “While one month does not make a trend, it is a confirmation demand in the used-truck market remains strong.”
ACT also reported that the average selling price for the total reported Class 8 trucks sold in June declined for the second month this year—down to a record $47,345. “Despite the short-term decline, our expectation is for price appreciation of up to 10% for 2014, with some upside risk possible,” Tam remarked.
According to ACT, its used-truck report focuses on average selling price, mileage and age based on a sample of industry data. It includes average selling prices for the top-selling Class 8 models of each of these OEMs: Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).
Truck Blue Book is a Penton media property and thus a sister operation to FleetOwner.
