Used truck prices started 2026 in a positive direction, with auction and retail pricing both up month over month and against 2025, J.D. Power announced in its February 2026 Commercial Truck Guidelines report.
Within the auction sector, the company states pricing was up 6.5% against December 2025 and 4.4% against January 2025. Volumes were down against December, but that is common as January is a month with fewer sales than average. Against January 2025 volumes were up 13.0%.
J.D. Power adds auction pricing is up 34.7% against late 2018 in nominal terms and 4.4% in real pricing when adjusted for inflation.
The wholesale market wasn't quite as strong, the company continues. The average price for a Class 8 used truck wholesaled in January was down 3.6% month over month, but up 13.0% year over year. The wholesale market is up 25.4% in nominal pricing against the last market peak in 2018 (and 89.3% against the pre-pandemic nadir in late 2019), but down 2.8% against 2018 in real terms.
In the retail space January's data was better.
J.D. Power states retail pricing was up 1.7% month over month and 7.1% year over year in January. Volumes were down slightly from December at 0.3 trucks, but remain close to 4.0 trucks per rooftop. Against January 2025, retail sales volume was up 1.2 trucks per rooftop.
The average Class 8 used truck sold in January was priced up 29.3% against early 2018 and 40.7% against late 2019 in nominal dollars, and up 0.3% and 11.5%, respectively, in real pricing.
The company also reports the average age of Class 8 trucks retailed in January was 59 months old, two months older than December but ten months newer than the long-term average. Mileage was up 3.5% from December but down 8.1% from January 2025.
“As 2026 begins, new truck orders suggest pent-up demand is transitioning into replacement and used truck metrics show continued strength,” J.D. Power states.
“Trucking capacity may be tightening quicker than predicted, which would counteract, to an extent, increased trade volume driven by higher new truck deliveries. Higher freight rates mean increased demand for late-model, low-mileage trucks. Economic and trade policy uncertainty is the new normal, but as long as consumers continue to spend, freight and equipment metrics should continue to move in the right direction.”
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