The 2007 engine emissions standards are having an impact on Class 8 sales with about a quarter of Canadian carriers (up to 40% if only large for-hire carriers are taken into consideration) using a pre-buy strategy to delay their purchases of the new and costlier engines. However, more than half of carriers are reporting no changes to their current trade-in cycles for heavy duty trucks.

A variety of factors influence a fleet’s trade-in cycles, according to data from our annual Equipment Buying Trends Survey, conducted by our Transportation Media Research division. Equipment reliability/durability is by far the most important factor but note that driver influence is not far behind resale value and warranty coverage in affecting fleet trade-in cycles.

Shipper demands for new equipment and responding to special OEM offers rank at the bottom of the list of factors influencing fleet trade-in cycles with just 6% of respondents noting those as top influences.

Our data also shows that the majority of fleets (45%) have a 4- to 6-year trade-in cycle but a quarter of fleets are hanging on to Class 8 trucks for as long as 10 years. Half of owner/operators are also on the 4- to 6-year trade-in cycle with a fifth hanging on to their trucks for 10 years or more.