Used commercial vehicle registrations covering Class 3-8 in the U.S. increased 21.7 percent in 2010 over 2009 to a record level of approximately 672,000 units registered, according to Polk.
Used commercial vehicle registrations accounted for nearly 65 percent of the total commercial vehicle market (new and used) in 2010. This is the first year registrations of used commercial vehicles have exceeded 600,000 units.
“The significant increase in used vehicle registrations during the 2010 calendar year is indicative of a strengthening in the demand for commercial vehicles overall,” said Gary Meteer, director, sales and client services, at Polk. “Large fleet owners and operators are upgrading to new vehicles, and therefore the smaller fleet companies and independent owner operators have the opportunity to find available clean used equipment; however, the pattern of used vehicle transactions indicates a softer supply of clean used equipment during the last quarter of the calendar year.”
The demand for clean used equipment was greatest for Class 8 vehicles, which represented more than 47 percent of all used commercial vehicle transactions in 2010.
