You’re hardly alone. If you’ve been in the market lately, you might have observed a lesson in supply and demand, according to a report from the American Truck Dealers. Today’s chapter is about prices rising.
Sales of trucks, like everything else, slumped badly during the recession. Now there’s a shortage of used trucks in the sweet spot of four to five model years old, and it’s not going away anytime soon.
“Even before the Great Recession, mileage was becoming the primary factor in the value of a used truck,” says the ATD newsletter. “This trend is even more evident now that fewer low-mileage trucks are available in the marketplace thanks to the low production rates of the past three years.”
It’s worth noting that the drop of fuel prices from nearly $5 a gallon a few years back has customers willing to buy boxy: “traditional and extended hood trucks – the segment previously assumed to be dead – [are] seeing the biggest bump. The highway aerodynamic segment – the meat and potatoes of the market – is up as much as 15% since January, depending on model year,” says ATD.
If you want to read more and see some good charts on the used truck market, check the ATD report and scroll to Pages 3-4.
