The Used Truck Market Signals a Turn
FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson sits down with Steve Oliver, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Taylor & Martin Auctioneers, to talk about trends in the used equipment market and what they mean for the freight market at large. The post The Used Truck Market Signals a Turn appeared first on FreightWaves.
https://www.taylorandmartin.com/The used truck market is often volatile season to season, and for those who know how to read it, the truck market is one of the most honest real-time indicators of where the broader freight economy is heading. For Steve Oliver, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Taylor & Martin Auctioneers, that kind of analysis features in the daily reality of running one of the country’s most established commercial vehicle auction sales teams.
Oliver sat down with FreightWaves Loaded and Rolling host Thomas Wasson to talk tariffs, used truck scarcity, the return of the American dream in trucking, and what Taylor & Martin has been building to meet a market that may finally be turning in carriers’ favor.
According to Oliver, what happens in the used truck market is typically a reflection of what’s happening in the new truck market.
“A large part of the equipment that ends up at an auction site is a result of people who buy new equipment, put it through their use cycle, and then make it available to others on the used market,” Oliver explained.
The ecosystem of new trucks flowing into large fleets, then trading down into the auction market for small and medium-sized operators is part of the normal circulatory rhythm of the commercial vehicle industry. But for much of the past two years, that rhythm has been disrupted. Tariff uncertainty, soft freight rates, and broader macroeconomic hesitation caused larger fleets to hold their equipment longer, which has broken the cycle that typically keeps a steady stream of late-model used trucks flowing to auction.
