Pre-buying was a strategy employed by many Canadian carriers over the past two years as a way to avoid the heavier price tag of the new diesel engines. However, our Transportation Media Research industry surveys have consistently revealed the pre-buy strategy was more popular with some fleets than others. The nation’s 100 largest carriers were 2.5 times more likely to have employed a pre-buy strategy than small carriers. Our annual count found that truck fleets of the Top 100 carriers grew by 20% in 2006 (8,011 vehicles). Close to a third of the nation’s large motor carriers (100-499 heavy-duty vehicles) and medium motor carriers (10-99 heavy-duty vehicles) reported using a pre-buy strategy.