J.D. Power: September a good month for used trucks

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While the Class 8 used truck auction channel saw higher volume and pricing in September, the retail channel also saw higher volume and generally stable pricing and medium-duty trucks had a relatively strong month, J.D. Power announced in its October 2020 Commercial Truck Guidelines industry report.

With Class 8 auctions, J.D. Power reports September saw higher volume and pricing compared with August, especially for newer trucks.

Average auction prices were as follows:

• Model year (MY) 2017: $51,542 average; $10,033 (24.2 percent) higher than August
• MY 2016: $32,228 average; $918 (2.9 percent) higher than August
• MY 2015: $25,775 average; $920 (3.4 percent) lower than August
• MY 2014: $20,000 average; $755 (3.9 percent) higher than August
• MY 2013: $17,171 average; $2,057 (10.7 percent) lower than August

“There was a large increase in volume of model-years 2015 and 2016 trucks sold. The fact that pricing remained stable for both years points to healthy interest. Demand for newer trucks is evident in the extremely strong result for model-year 2017 trucks. As we predicted last month, pricing strength is no longer limited to trucks with low mileage. Even average-mileage trucks are seeing price improvements at this point,” J.D. Power states.

September’s retail results mirrored August’s. Pricing dipped mildly, due to a combination of a few large packages of higher-mileage trucks sold and natural market movement. A healthy number of check-writers continued to visit dealers’ lots in September.

The average sleeper tractor retailed in September was 69 months old, had 469,858 miles, and brought $42,066. Compared with August, this average sleeper was one month older, had 9,382 (2.0 percent) fewer miles, and brought $24 (0.1 percent) more money. Compared to September 2019, this average sleeper was identical in age, had 12,747 (2.8 percent) more miles and brought $10,183 (19.5%) less money, the report states.

Looking at trucks two to five years of age, September’s average pricing was as follows:

• MY 2019: $92,061; $172 (0.2 percent) higher than August
• MY 2018: $72,178; $2,010 (2.7 percent) lower than August
• MY 2017: $51,133; $2,193 (3.7 percent) lower than August
• MY 2016: $39,011; $481 (1.2 percent) higher than August

“Unlike the auction market, third quarter 2020 retail results are still behind the same period of 2019. This is because retail pricing held up better than auction pricing in the 2nd half of 2019, resulting in tougher comparisons on the retail side,” J.D. Power says. “We’re now in the period where we’d expect some market softening due to uncertainty around the Presidential election combined with the lack of a renewed stimulus package. However, freight markets are still hot at the time of this writing, so those headwinds haven’t yet materialized.

J.D. Power says dealers retailed an average of 5.6 trucks per rooftop in September, 0.2 truck higher than August, and 2.5 trucks higher than last September. A typical month in the post-recession, pre-COVID decade was 5.5 trucks per rooftop. “So this month’s foot traffic should have felt like the good old days,” the report states.

Looking at Class 4 conventionals, average pricing for J.D. Power’s benchmark group was $22,798, $1,306 (6.1 percent) higher than August, and $520 (2.3 percent) higher than September 2019. The first 9 months of 2020 are averaging 4.2 percent lower than the same period of 2019. Average monthly depreciation is now down to 0 for the year.

Class 6 conventional pricing averaged $23,102 in September, $969 (4.4 percent) higher than August, and $4,096 (21.6 percent) higher than September 2019. The first 9 months of 2020 are averaging 5.7 percent lower than the same period of 2019. Like Class 4, average monthly depreciation for Class 6 is now essentially zero for the year, J.D. Power reports.

To see the full report, CLICK HERE.