Commercial

June 2023 Commercial Vehicle Market Update

By Chris Visser

High-Mileage Trucks Continue to Impact Market


CLASS 8 AUCTION UPDATE
Sales volume in May 2023 was similar to April 2023, and the number of trucks with extremely high mileage for their
model year continues to increase.

Looking at three- to seven-year-old trucks, average pricing for our benchmark truck in May was:
• Model year 2021: $79,800; $22,200 (21.8%) lower than April
• Model year 2020: $59,024; $705 (1.2%) lower than April
• Model year 2019: $42,492; $4,489 (9.6%) lower than April
• Model year 2018: $29,584; $2,787 (8.6%) lower than April
• Model year 2017: $21,844; $3,080 (12.4%) lower than April

We’ve been saying for a few months to expect substantial swings in the model-year 2021 average due to very low
volume, and May’s result was no exception. Most three-year-old trucks sold this month had extremely high mileage—
170,000 per year of service—which affected their selling price. Trucks with more typical mileage brought somewhat
stronger money, although pricing across the board continues to decline.

With that in mind, late-model trucks averaged 5.7% less money in May than in April, and 46.3% less money than May
2022. In the first five months of 2023, late-model sleepers brought 46.9% less money than the same period of 2022.
Monthly depreciation in 2023 is currently averaging 6.5%. The newest model years available in the marketplace are
bringing just under 20% more money than the strong pre-pandemic period of 2018 in nominal figures, or roughly
comparable money if adjusted for inflation.

One side effect of the 2020-2022 new truck shortage is trucks that were obtained accumulated extremely high
mileage due to very little downtime. In addition to the aforementioned average of 170,000 miles per year for 2021s,
the 2022s sold in May averaged 180,000 miles per year, and 2020s (technically not part of the shortage, but still
affected by it since they were only a year old when it began) averaged a whopping 185,000 miles per year. This
dynamic represents a headwind to selling prices going forward. See the graphs on the next page and the Forecast
section at the end of this document for additional analysis.

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