Retail Customers Heading to Dealerships in Greater Numbers

Retail volume increased again in July, with packages of higher-mileage trucks contributing to the volume and causing some of our averages to come in lower than last month.

The average sleeper tractor retailed in July was 68 months old, had 478,624 miles, and brought $39,650. Compared to June, this average sleeper was identical in age, had 374 (0.1%) more miles, and brought $2,677 (7.2%) more money. Compared to July 2019, this average sleeper was 3 months newer, had 13,970 (3.0%) more miles, and brought $15,023 (27.5%) less money.

Looking at trucks two to five years of age, July’s average pricing was as follows:

• Model year 2019: $87,799; $6,328 (6.7%) lower than June
• Model year 2018: $74,637; $4,829 (6.9%) higher than June
• Model year 2017: $49,596; $4,417 (8.2%) lower than June
• Model year 2016: $38,169; $568 (1.5%) higher than June

Our average for model year 2019 was impacted by a large number of high-mileage trucks sold, while our average for model year 2017 was impacted by a large package of low-spec trucks. On an apples-to-apples basis, conditions were better than those figures suggest. Month-over-month, late-model trucks brought 0.6% less money. In the first seven months of 2020, pricing averaged 15.8% lower than the same period of 2019. Depreciation in 2020 is averaging 2.8% per month, back down below 3.0% and not far from what we consider historically typical.

Dealers retailed an average of 5.2 trucks per rooftop in July, 0.6 truck higher than June, and 0.3 truck higher than last July. This month’s result is another healthy uptick, and the first result over 5.0 since August of 2018. There were definitely more retail buyers in July.