While August’s preliminary class 8 same dealer used truck retail sales volumes disappointed, September’s results provided a high-side surprise (11% month over month), according to the latest preliminary release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks published by ACT Research.

“Underlying fundamentals have not changed perceptibly since August. Spot freight and freight rates, along with still high but improving interest rates, appear to have been sufficient enough to entice truck buyers. Seasonality called for an increase of about 2% M/M,” Steve Tam, vice president at ACT Research, said. “Preliminary auction activity declined from August (-60%), as did wholesale transactions (-18%). Altogether, sales fell 9.4% from August.”