Companies are buying more used vehicles

Buying used vehicles is a cheap and financially sound method of updating a company's fleet. Many times these trucks have better gas mileage with fewer emissions, which saves freight-hauling businesses money by saving on fuel.

A recent study by the ACT Research found that there is an upward trend of used Class 8 commercial vehicles that began in 2010 and has continued into March 2011, Trucking Info reports.

Researchers found that the reported average sales price increased 6 percent from February levels. Furthermore, the average miles for vehicles in the used market are increasing.

"Inventory on hand continues to be very tight," said Steve Tam, vice president, commercial vehicle Ssctor with ACT. "The trend is for vehicles coming to market with higher mileage, a reaction to fleets holding on to their equipment longer. Used prices will continue to rise, driven by tight availability of low-mileage and late model units."

Fleet management may wish to enroll their employees in online truck driver training courses to help them keep up-to-date on the current trends impacting the industry.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average diesel price across the U.S. is $4.10 per gallon, which represents a $0.01 decrease from a week ago and a $1.02 increase from last year.

By Andie Martin

Companies are buying more used vehicles

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011