Ritchie Bros. announced that it sold more than 4,500 truck tractors for the month of June in the United States, a 23% increases from the same time period last year.
More than 5,500 trucks were sold globally during the same time period, which is also a new company record—up approximately 10% from the previous record set in December 2019.
“On top of spillover from 2019, which was one of the largest repossession years we’ve ever seen,” said Rob Slavin, senior valuation analyst, Ritchie Bros. “We are seeing trucks come to us due to fleet resizing, dealer trade-in packages, and trucks coming in from the energy sector, which has struggled in 2020.”
Texas has proven to be hot market for Ritchie Bros. particularly through their site auctions in Houston and Fort Worth, as well as through their weekly IronPlanet auction and Marketplace-E events.
“Looking at our Ritchie Bros. Market Trends price index for trucks, which allows for an apples-to-apples comparison on pricing, we saw some softness in pricing through 2019, but we’re starting to see those declines moderate,” said Ken Calhoon, vice president of data analytics at Ritchie Bros. “We’re still seeing year on year pricing down somewhat, but the prices are coming back.”
The top make and model truck currently sold at auction is the Freightliner Cascadia, with more than 650 units in the U.S. in June 2020. Other popular manufacturers include Peterbilt, International, and Kenworth.
“Another interesting trend we have seen in 2020 is an overall increase in end-user participation at our auctions,” said Ken Calhoon. “Across all geographies we are seeing end-user participating increase, often by double-digits.”
As new truck production slowed, auction participation has increased.
“Supply chain disruption as a result of COVID-19 has affected truck production,” said Don Nash, Territory Manager, Ritchie Bros. “Meanwhile we are seeing record demand in our auctions. Our most recent auction in Fort Worth, TX saw bidder registration increase 108% year over year!”
