According to commercial truck analysts at NADA Used Guide, a division of J.D. Power and Associates, commercial truck auction volume returned to typical activity levels in February, while pricing remained stable.
“This winter was extremely volatile for auction volume. December was the highest-volume month of the year, then January plummeted to nearly zero trucks sold,” said Chris Visser, senior commercial truck analyst at NADA. Then February was back up to a level on par with the second half of 2015. Since February was a higher-volume month, the price stability is encouraging.”
In the report, year-over-year comparisons were negative, but not severely so. The free monthly report observes three to five year-old sleepers retailed for 8% less in January 2016 compared to January 2015. It also noted February’s year-over-year comparison should look similar.
Looking ahead at sales volume, NADA Used Car Guide commercial truck analysts believe February should come in at approximately 4.6 trucks sold per rooftop, identical to January. This result would be 0.3 trucks higher than last February, but 0.6 trucks off the 2015 average. Low trade-in values are keeping many buyers out of the market and dealers are reluctant to chop pricing severely to get these buyers off the fence. The market remains in a transition period, with buyers and sellers adjusting to new price levels.
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