Commercial Used Truck Market
Posted by Steve Robinson Jr. on Wed, Jul 14, 2010
2009 closed out with an uptick in the volume of used truck sales reported to us. This increase is likely due to trade-in activity as late 2010 model year trucks were delivered to fleets in advance of the 2011 emissions changes. We expect this trend to continue for another month or two as the last of the 2010 model year is cycled into the vehicle stream.
The increase in sales volume did not appear to have an impact on depreciation trends. The moderate monthly decline in selling prices continued through December, with mileage and cab configuration the primary factors in a used truck’s value. To that end, we updated our mileage tables for February to reflect the introduction of the 2011 model year. The net effect was to boost the low mileage addition for newer trucks.
We will also look at construction vehicles starting with this update. Despite the introduction of highway construction stimulus funds, there were no major monthly changes to the value of construction vehicles throughout 2009. Our mileage calculation revision also affected construction trucks, and we have kept value declines minimal from January to February.
Medium duty trucks lost a substantial percentage of their value throughout 2009. Mileage was not as critical a factor as with the Class 8 market, with a smaller difference between low and average mileage. Most segments of the market saw their heaviest depreciation in early 2009, and then appeared to find a bottom of sorts sometime in the 3rd quarter.
Thank you to Chris Visser for his report information.
The increase in value shown for 2010 reflects an upward adjustment to “1-ton” cab & chassis models. Other weight classes were mostly unchanged.