Who says used trucks are going up in value?

The article is talking about 3-5 year old trucks, exactly the ones that the Mega(and not so Mega) Carriers have in their business model. Get rid of them in the "sweet spot" with just a little warranty left on them and shove them off on the formerly unsuspecting masses. The problem is the "unsuspecting masses" are wise to the maintenance time bomb these represent and are shunning these trucks.
That is one of the reasons Volvo and International ( and the ATA) are spending BIG bucks lobbying in Washington DC to limit the use of gliders, something neither one markets and the ATA clientele (those Mega Carriers) are taking a bath trying to unload newer non gliders
None care that it doesn't matter how cheap the trucks are, even if the price reflects paying for the additional maintenance, the cost of downtime will MURDER any owner operator with only one truck.
Don't get me started....

 

So buying a new truck is a wiser choice than used?

 

Yes!!!! If your talking 3 to 5 years old. Might as well just have a camp fire fueled with $100 dollar bills.

IMHO of course.

 

The rules of the game apply differently to a sizable fleet(50+ trucks) vs a single truck owner operator. If a single truck owner buys a new(or used) truck, if that truck has any emission related failures and is in the shop for any significant time, although the actual bill might be paid by warranty coverage, the downtime cost ($100-150 per day, the overhead-payment) is not. Nor is the potential loss of income which worse ($500-$1000 per day). A single operator doesn't have the deep pockets to weather those losses for long.
A fleet can at least keep revenue - income - flowing by utilizing extra equipment which is likely available. Especially if they lease equipment from say Penske or Ryder.
That is why the entire owner operator business model has to change, with significant revenue increases to offset the additional downtime losses which historically have been eaten by the owner operator.

 

Maybe I should I wait to buy another truck...says prices fall 2 percent a month.

 

100% usage in any fleet of any size is an impossibility. Even 1 man 1 truck has the vehicle availabile at least half the time. Granted you are either at home or in the sleeper, and you aren't likely going to let someone just take your truck and drive it, but a company driver who goes home for a 34 or weekend, or vacation doesn't have that control. That's partly where the extra equipment is always available.

 

Stude, these trucks are at the end of their ledger life cycle so they are doing what every business does thanks to the tax system - nothing more.

I get rid of trucks over 4 years old that are creeping up on maintenance costs, some as new as 2 years old have been rotated out of the fleet because there is no business reason to keep putting money into them at a point where they breach that cost effectiveness threshold.