Critical Shifts:
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Fleet Turnover Is Accelerating Market Velocity: Fleet managers are cycling out higher-mileage trade-ins (median mileage up 30.8% QoQ to 77,507 miles), injecting much-needed pre-owned inventory back into the market.
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Rapid Demand Absorption: Despite higher mileage and interest rate pressures, used commercial vehicles are turning over nearly 10% faster QoQ (Days to Turn down to 56 days), signaling strong underlying operational demand from buyers.
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Pricing Relief Driving Volume: Average used commercial vehicle prices dipped 3.1% QoQ to $37,494, giving business buyers price relief that helped push used sales volume up 10% quarter-over-quarter.
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Work Truck Solutions, a commercial vehicle authority, has released its Q2 2026 Commercial Vehicle Market Analysis. While a single quarter does not establish a permanent trend, Q2 data presents strong positive signals that the tight-supply friction of previous quarters is beginning to yield. Driven by a significant rotation of higher-mileage fleet trade-ins, the pre-owned commercial market is seeing renewed transaction velocity, with buyers rapidly absorbing these vehicles and driving Days to Turn (DTT) down.
Used Work Truck and Van Market
- The average price for used commercial vehicles dropped 3.1% QoQ to $37,494, though prices remain 8.8% higher YoY.
- On-lot inventory per dealer rose, up 7.4% QoQ and 3.6% YoY.
- Sales (movement) grew 10.0% QoQ, narrowing the YoY figure to a decline of 8.3%.
- Days to Turn (DTT) dropped to 56 days, reflecting a 9.7% QoQ improvement, despite being 5.7% higher than last year.
- Median mileage jumped dramatically, surging 30.8% QoQ and 24.5% YoY to an average of 77,507 miles.
The massive spike in average mileage suggests that fleet managers have been driving their work trucks and vans longer before introducing them to the secondary market. Despite higher mileage, these used commercial vehicles are turning over 10% faster than last quarter, indicating that buyers are still actively absorbing used stock to keep operations running.
“While retail sales have been down in the first half of the year due to higher prices and escalated interest rates, the work truck and van market has been a positive offset for dealers, particularly in the second quarter, providing sales growth, better inventory turn times and much better grosses,” said Aaron Johnson, CEO of Work Truck Solutions. “New work truck inventory has stabilized, sales are up and days to turn has seen solid improvement, demonstrating strong operational demand.”
Johnson continued, “Meanwhile, data from the used commercial vehicle market is revealing numerous factors that point toward fleet managers cycling at a slower pace. Dealers who leverage precise digital merchandising to showcase the value of these highly capable, yet higher-mileage vehicles, will find a very receptive buyer base.”
