The volume of used Class 8 trucks sold in May dropped 12% below April’s volume, according to a new report from the commercial vehicle industry data provider ACT Research.                                

“The volume drop was expected, since sales usually slow during the summer months,” said Steve Tam, vice president commercial vehicle sector with ACT.

Tam said that even though fleets and dealers alike are now beginning to talk about fleet expansion, they are not necessarily trading in the same number of trucks that they are buying.

“The result is potential perpetuation of a lack of desirable inventory in the used truck market,” he said. “However, the units that are making their way into used truck inventory tend to be younger and have lower mileage than the industry has seen in a while."

In May the used Class 8 average sale price was $48,604, while the number of average miles was 537,991 miles and the average age was 86 months.