Here's the quote owner-operator Joe Bielucki got from a dealer, showing a new-to-him $9,500 tariff charge that he called a "deal-breaker."
Owner-operator Joe Bielucki recently looked into how much it would cost to replace his 2023 International HX before the Environmental Protection Agency's 2027 emissions regs spike prices.
One line in the quote the cautious, experienced owner-op got back from a trusted dealer gave him a little bit of a sticker shock: a $9,500 tariff line-item fee on the truck.
That $9,500 hit comes from 25% Section 232 tariffs announced for medium- and heavy-duty truck imports by the Trump administration. The tariff here only applies to the non-U.S.-made content of the International, and went into effect in November.
"It was basically my current spec from three years ago," Bielucki said. "My truck cost $155,000" back in 2023. With the current model year, "now it's $190,000, and that $9,500 tariff was a deal-breaker for me."
Bielucki is in no rush to sell his '23. "I only have 120,000 miles on it and three years' Cummins warranty left," he said.
Still, he likes to stay ahead of regs changes, sometimes to a fault. When his home state of Connecticut introduced a new tax on trucks based on vehicle weight and miles traveled, he took a good look at the letter of the law and decided to pay the full freight, as if he was loaded to 80,000 pounds, every time, out of an abundance of caution.
In this case, he wanted to stay ahead of the 2027 emissions changes, but found another move by the government, tariffs, making the deal untenable.
"I was thinking of beating the 2027 price increase because emissions," he said. "So now it's a one-two punch plus the tariff charges."
It's a calculation Bielucki will have to keep an eye on. In 2024, Overdrive crunched the numbers on how emissions regs impact new truck prices, showing that the cost of new truck equipment over two decades has increased faster than inflation, generally.
Download the 2024 report via this link.
“I would not buy a 2027 model, a 2028 or 2029,” owner-operator Stephen Halsted told Overdrive in 2024. "I’m not gonna be a guinea pig where I’ve got a $4,000-$5,000-a-month truck payment, and where’s the truck?
"Always sitting in the shop.”
The 2027 emissions regs changes, strongly opposed by many trucking groups, are still set to go forward, with planned, as-yet-unspecified modifications by the Trump administration set for Spring this year.
The new rule intends to lower tailpipe Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions to a level 80%-plus below the current standard and reduce the particulate matter limit by 50%. It will also require that OEMs extend warranties to 450,000 miles from 100,000 and useful-life limits to 650,000 miles from 435,000 miles, according to November reporting.
Might new tariff charges depress a 2027 pre-buy this year?
[Related: Trucking overcapacity stifling new-truck demand?]
And though the tariff was the deal-breaker for Bielucki, take another good look at that invoice up top. The nearly $20,000 Federal Excise Tax, which trucking and dealer advocates have long pushed for Congress to scrap, comes in at more than double the weight of the tariff.
For Bielucki, all the uncertainty around costs means wait-and-see for now.
"I'll hold for now until the insanity subsides," he said.
