Used truck prices tumbled throughout 2016. The average retail price of 3-to-5-year-old tractors, $73,300 in January 2016, plunged to $53,900 in December, according to J.D. Power Valuation Services.
Though prices stabilized in the first half of 2017 – holding near $60,000 through June – that modest rebound might be only a calm before the storm. Tractors sold in 2014 and 2015 are expected to flood the market in numbers that should restrain pricing through about 2020, forecasts Steve Clough, president of Arrow Truck Sales.
That market should present owner-operators further opportunity to score cheap deals on nice equipment, particularly on aerodynamic fleet-spec sleepers.
“There are some nice buys out there right now, and anybody that tells you there’s not is kidding themselves,” says Craig Kendall, president of the Used Truck Association and market manager for The Pete Store, a 15-store dealer group that spans the East Coast.
It’s possible a spike in demand for more truck capacity could occur, boosting demand for used trucks and countering the low prices resulting from the glut. However, projections for growth in freight movement and GDP are modest. If that holds, used truck demand won’t help absorb the excess supply.
