Sales of used heavy-duty commercial vehicles increased 21 percent in December on a month-over-month basis, according to ACT Research Co.


In the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, ACT reported that unit retail channel sales for the full-year of 2010 were up by 31 percent, followed by a 18 percent gain for the wholesale channel and 6 percent for auctions. The data is based on same dealer sales from ACT's database of used truck dealer sales.

"Despite a pick-up in sales volume, constricted supplies of equipment of all sizes was the main headline for 2010 and will continue to garner the spotlight in the coming year," said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. "There should be some increase in the supply of used trucks as new Class 8 sales rebound, but the supply of late-model and low mileage units is expected to stay tight. That will allow used prices to continue to rise."

ACT Used Truck database participants report approximately 2,500 transactions per month. The company is working with additional used vehicle market participants to push the number of reported transactions significantly higher. ACT estimates that approximately 10 percent of used Class 8 transactions are currently included in the database.