While used truck prices only dipped slightly in August, the 1% year-over-year decline is the first since January 2018, according to ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks report. Used truck prices also dropped 3% month over month, but they remained 7% higher year to date.

“Dealers are reporting that used truck sales are not in the tank, but the prices for trucks have fallen and inventories are growing,” said Steve Tam, vice president at ACT Research.

“This is not unexpected, as sales of new trucks have been barreling along, leading to many trade trucks coming to dealers,” he continued.

Tam pointed out that with lower used truck values and growing inventories, “many dealers have become much more conservative about what they will pay for trade-ins, while the rapid decrease in used truck values has caught some customers by surprise, as customers became used to receiving more for trucks in the last two years than what is normal.”

The report also shows that same-dealer sales rose 9% in August compared to July, but fell 19% vs. the first eight months of 2018. And it indicates used Class 8 average miles increased slightly month over month, by 2%, but were down 1% year to date. Average age rose 1% compared to July and 4% on a year-to-date basis.

The report provides data on the average selling price, miles, and age based on a sample of industry data. In addition, it gives the average selling price for top-selling Class 8 models for each of the major truck OEMs: Freightliner (Daimler); Kenworth and Peterbilt (Paccar); International (Navistar); and Volvo and Mack (Volvo).

ACT Research is a publisher of commercial vehicle truck, trailer, and bus industry data, market analysis and forecasts for the North America and China markets.