Stable pricing despite substantial volume fluctuations was the story of the used truck market last month, J.D. Power reported Tuesday in its Commercial Truck Guidelines Industry Report for November 2017.
In the Class 8 sleeper auction/wholesale market most prices in J.D. Power’s benchmark auction model were close to unchanged. The company pegged model year 2013 tractors at $28,120 average, $325 (1.2 percent) ahead of September; MY 2012 clocked in at $26,000 on average, $500 (1.9 percent) lower than September; and MY 2011 tractors finished at $24,000 on average, which was identical to September.
Additionally, J.D. Power states depreciation rates for these 2011 to 2013 model year tractors all remain below 1.0 percent per month, which “suggests the market is comfortable with current pricing.”
Looking at the larger wholesale marketplace, J.D. Power states the average sleeper tractor sold in September was 64 months old, had 501,747 miles and brought $33,602. Compared to the previous month, that average sleeper was six months younger, had nearly 20,000 fewer miles and brought 27.1 percent ($7,155) more money. In the popular 3- to 5-year-old sleeper cohort, J.D. Power states a large group of identical, relatively high-priced MY 2015 trucks hit the market in September and skewed the month’s average up 44.9 percent above August. Eliminating that group of tractors from the month’s totals brought the wholesale industry average back in line with August’s results.
The retail sleeper market also posted strong totals in September, with both volume and pricing on par with August. J.D. Power states the average sleeper tractor retailed in September was 75 months old, had 463,896 miles and brought $47,050. Compared to August, J.D. Power states that average sleeper was two months older, had 16,655 more miles and brought $768 less.
In the 3- to 5-year-old cohort, retail prices have slipped 1.3 percent per month in 2017 compared to 1.5 percent across the same period in 2016. Average pricing by age for the cohort was as follows:
Looking at the status of the market moving forward, J.D. Power states “supply of sleeper tractors will be an issue for the next two years, but the demand side should continue to incrementally improve.”
