The used truck market showed little change in September from September, as sleeper tractors continue to depreciate at a historically typical rate in the auction and retail channels, J.D. Power announced late last week in its October Commercial Truck Guidelines report.
Auction volumes continue uptick as dealers offload equipment
J.D. Power reports sales volumes at Class 8 auctions increased last month compared to August, while pricing edged downward across the board.
Looking at late-model sleeper tractors, average auction pricing for its benchmark truck In September was:
- Model year (MY) 2023: $63,516; $8,011 (11.2%) lower than August
- MY 2022: $50,183; $940 (1.8%) lower than August
- MY 2021: $37,466; $1,873 (5.3%) higher than August
- MY 2020: $29,571; $399 (1.3%) lower than August
- MY 2019: $23,163; $2,745 (10.6%) lower than August
J.D. Power adds selling prices in September auctions for benchmark trucks 4- to 6-years-old averaged 0.5% lower than August, but remained 8.2% higher than September 2024. Compared to the strong pre-pandemic market of 2018, the company states current nominal pricing is just 0.2% lower — but when adjusted for inflation, it’s down 22.0%.
Relative to the last market low in late 2019, J.D. Power reports prices are 56.8% higher nominally and 24.4% higher when inflation adjusted. Monthly depreciation for this group is averaging 2.1%.
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“Cutting through the noise, September’s used truck auction environment was similar to August’s,” the company states. “Lower-mileage trucks remain scarce due to ongoing fleet downsizing and heavy usage of trucks remaining in service. As usual, the limited volume of trucks sold each month results in swings in the raw data averages that are not necessarily reflective of actual market movement.”
Retail volumes continue to rise, keeping pricing from improvement
Within the retail space, J.D. Power says prices declined moderately for the third month in a row. Sales volume remains healthier than last year.
Looking at the overall mix of trucks retailed in September, its dataset of sold sleeper tractors averaged 54 months old and 416,800 miles. Compared with August, J.D. Power states this group was two months newer and had 11,327 (2.6%) fewer miles. Compared with August 2025, this dataset averaged nine months newer and 23,130 (5.3%) fewer miles.
“The retail customer remains selective in terms of age and mileage of trucks they’re willing to accept,” the company says.
J.D. Power adds September’s average pricing for a late-model trucks was:
- MY 2024: $126,644; $7,227 (6.1%) higher than August
- MY 2023: $95,843; $831 (0.9%) lower than August
- MY 2022: $72,494; $1,453 (2.0%) lower than August
- MY 2021: $53,823; $1,619 (2.9%) lower than August
- MY 2020: $40,363; $4,016 (9.0%) lower than August
Sleeper tractors aged 3- to 5-years-old sold for 1.7% less than in August 2025, but 10.6% more than in September 2024. Late-model sleepers are now bringing 1.9% more money than the last strong pre-pandemic period of early 2019 in nominal dollars, or 23.5% less when adjusted for inflation. The company says compared with the last weak pre-pandemic period of late 2019, late-model sleeper values are running 27.3% higher in nominal dollars or 0.9% higher in real dollars.
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More good news, depreciation in 2025 to date is still averaging well under 1% per month.
As for volumes, sales sales per rooftop dipped slightly in September, down 0.2 trucks from August to an average of 3.2. However, J.D. Power states total reported retail sales rose 7.0% month over month, though they remained 0.8% below September 2024 levels.
Overall, the company states capacity continues to tighten “incrementally” as unneeded trucks are offloaded from the nation’s fleet.
“Tougher enforcement of English language proficiency rules and more stringent domicile regulations will eventually provide some acceleration to this dynamic, which was already underway due to the depressed freight environment. Ultimately, these factors will contribute to the transition to an upcycle, which most analysts forecast to be underway by second half of 2026,” the company reports.
For more information, and to read the entirety of this month’s report, please CLICK HERE.
