The second-hand truck market has a trough to navigate as talk of a recession ramps up and buyers start to tighten their belts, writes Steve Banner.
Demand for older high-mileage second-hand trucks is on a downward curve as hauliers contemplate the prospect of higher taxes, public spending cuts, escalating interest rates and recession; and count the pennies.
That’s the word from Paul Young, regional asset manager at Paccar Financial Europe, who regularly dispose of significant volumes of ex-contract DAFs in the UK.
Paccar is DAF’s US-owned parent company.
“There is still plenty of interest in clean, late-registered, low-mileage models, often from customers who would usually buy new,” he added, “but in some cases they are still having to wait a long time for delivery. Otherwise, the market is very subdued – really quiet – and you only have to turn on the news to see why.”
Chris Thornton is the used truck sales manager for the Pennines Region at DAF dealership Motus. He said: “The market is quietening down a bit and the cost of finance isn’t helping things, although pockets of interest remain, and a good low-mileage truck will still sell all day long.”
