Used truck dealers continue to characterize business as “good” or even better than expected, although maybe not quite as strong as they had hoped, according to the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, published by ACT Research.

“The average selling price of total reported Class 8 trucks continues to hold up better than expected,” said Steve Tam, Vice President-Commercial Vehicle Sector with ACT. “For the first nine months this year, prices were down only 3%, relative to the same period in 2012. Earlier expectations were for price declines of between 5% and 10%,” he added.

Last month, Steve Clough, president of Arrow Truck Sales, told attendees at FTR's annual Transportation Conference that the price premium for used Class 8 trucks, while moderating, is expected to remain at a high level. This is despite the fact that the average age and mileage of available used models is expected to keep increasing, he said.