ACT said the average retail selling price rose 5.1% to $59,723 from $56,813 a year earlier, but declined 1% sequentially from $60,347. (Aziz Shmuratov/Getty Images)
key takeaways:
- ACT Research said used Class 8 truck sales rose 5.3% year on year to 23,800 units in May, but fell 4.4% from April with mixed auction and wholesale activity.
- Prices remained high despite monthly declines, with average retail prices up 5.1% year over year due to limited supply of new trucks and low trade-in supported used values.
- Soft financing and a potential drop in fuel prices in May could weigh on demand and prices, analysts said, while a recent decline in retail sales suggests market momentum may be limited.
Used Class 8 truck sales and prices declined slightly in the short term but remained above prior-year results in May.
ACT Research Sales were said to have increased 5.3% to 23,800 units from 22,600 a year earlier, but down 4.4% sequentially from 24,900 units. The report described mixed auction and wholesale markets: auction volumes increased as the company recovered from a slow start to the quarter, while wholesale dealer activity declined during the same period.
“May is the third weakest sales month of the year,” said Steve Tam, vice president of ACT Research. “While some carriers are leaving the business, there appears to be a steady stream of people willing to throw their hat in the ring. These willing participants are responsible for the increase in used truck sales volume that the market is currently enjoying.”
ACT Research also said the average retail selling price rose 5.1% to $59,723 from $56,813 a year earlier, but declined 1% sequentially from $60,347. Average mileage declined 0.2% to 400,000 from 401,000 a year earlier, and down 0.7% from 403,000 miles in April.
“In the month of May, we were flat here,” said Charles Smith, regional business development and marketing manager for Mission Financial Services. “We had a better month in April. We saw that prices were good, and we did a lot of financing in the month of April. May is coming, and it has slowed down a little bit.”
Smith said the soft May results mean fewer financing opportunities during the month. He suspects global market uncertainty may be partly responsible, making it more difficult to predict expenses such as freight prices and fuel costs. He’s also tracking a slight increase in used truck prices based on what he’s hearing from dealerships, sellers and auctions across the country.
“There aren’t a lot of new trucks going out, so the price of used trucks is going up,” Smith said. “Once new sales start to pick up some, you’ll see used prices go down again. Of course, a lot of my franchise dealerships on the new side are not taking trades. So, with that, it drives up the value of used trucks at this time, especially low-mileage used trucks.”
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jd power, in a separate reportsaid auction volumes had increased significantly for the second consecutive month. However, dealership retail sales declined again, suggesting there are limits to the strong demand environment. Retail sales prices decreased 1.3% from last month but increased 2.9% from last year. Wholesale prices rose 6.7% sequentially but were down 0.1% from a year earlier. Auction prices are down 3.2% from last month and 4.3% from 2025.
“A reduction in conflict in the Middle East appears likely in the near term,” Chris Visser, director of special vehicles at J.D. Power, wrote in the report. “Any resulting decline in refined fuel prices will put pressure on fuel surcharges and, in turn, spot rates.”
Visser said lower rates could create modest headwinds for used truck demand and values, noting that the recent increase in spot rates has been caused by fuel surcharges. He’s also monitoring the recent decline in retail sales per dealership.
“It makes sense that the increase in purchases of late-model used trucks would coincide with a large increase in spot rates,” Visser said. “The decline in volume over the past two months suggests that trade-in activity and drivers entering or re-entering the industry are limiting factors.”
