The latest State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks report published by ACT Research indicates preliminary used Class 8 volume same dealer sales jumped 25 percent month-over-month in March, following a modest decline in February .
ACT says that increase, while significant, still tracked last month as 14 percent lower than the same month last year. Additionally, other data released in ACT’s preliminary report included year-over-year comparisons for March 2019, which showed that average prices rose 7 percent, while average miles contracted 2 percent, and average age was 8 percent higher.
“We continue to hear from dealers that the lack of inventory is a limiting factor inhibiting sales volumes, an observation corroborated by the current demand and pricing environment. Despite the impressive sequential increase, volumes remain well below last year’s year-to-date level,” says Steve Tam, vice president at ACT Research.
“It is important to note that slowing growth in the freight market is also a likely contributor to the lower sales. Truckers may be getting to the point where they have the trucks necessary to meet their needed freight demand.”
