Class 8 Auction Market Takes a Breather
Conditions moderated a bit in October, with both volume and pricing pulling back from September’s strong result. The 2017 price dip was due to a small volume of high-mileage trucks sold, so we do not consider it meaningful. See below for average pricing detail for our benchmark truck.
- Model year 2017: $36,500 average; $15,042 (29.2%) lower than September
- Model year 2016: $33,500 average; $1,272 (3.9%) higher than September
- Model year 2015: $25,000 average; $775 (3.0%) lower than September
- Model year 2014: $21,850 average; $1,850 (9.3%) higher than September
- Model year 2013: $14,050 average; $2,671 (18.2%) lower than September
Month-over-month, our benchmark group of 4-6 year-old trucks brought 13.3% less money. In the first 10 months of 2020, pricing averaged 9.9% lower than the same period of 2019. Despite this decline, pricing in the 2nd half of 2020 is still running well ahead of 2019. Thanks to this year’s recovery, our benchmark truck now shows an average monthly price gain of 2.8% per month in 2020.
October is typically a low-volume month at auctions, with fewer sales on the calendar and the focus on moving freight and not necessarily acquiring trucks. The very low number of late-model trucks sold means we couldn’t draw any conclusions about market conditions. We’ve been predicting a 4th quarter plateau, so we’ll continue to watch sales results and listen to your feedback to see how pricing unfolds through the end of the year.
