For three years, the used Class 8 market has been a buyer’s market. Inventory was high, prices were soft, dealers were stacking trucks in back lots hoping the cycle would turn. If you sold a truck in 2023, 2024, or most of 2025, you took less for it than you wanted. If you bought one, you probably got a deal.

That cycle is ending. The data from spring 2026 is clear, and any owner-operator thinking about buying, selling, or trading in the next six months needs to understand what’s happening.

What the numbers actually say

J.D. Power’s February 2026 Commercial Truck Guidelines report showed used truck prices ticking up month-over-month and year-over-year, in both auction and retail channels. That marks the first sustained price gain in roughly 36 months. The Sandhills Global market report for March 2026 confirmed the same pattern on the trailer side — used semi-trailer asking prices and auction values both moved up, with inventory continuing a seven-month decline.

By mid-April, Sandhills was reporting that used heavy-duty truck inventory was contracting in March and April both. Day cab inventory was down 5.7 percent month-over-month and 25.1 percent year-over-year. Medium-duty truck inventory was down 38.4 percent year-over-year. Sleeper inventory dropped 3.8 percent month-over-month. Asking prices moved modestly higher across the board. Auction values stabilized.

In plain English: the lots are emptying out. The trucks that were sitting there for 90 and 120 days through 2025 are moving. New buyers are stepping back into the market.

Why now

Three things lined up at the same time.

First, the EPA 2027 emissions story. We covered that in detail two weeks ago. Carriers who don’t want to deal with the cost or the early reliability questions of a 2027-certified engine are looking harder at clean used trucks — 2022, 2023, and 2024 model year units that already have their first major service issues behind them and a known performance track record.

Second, freight is firming. Spot rates entering Q2 2026 looked stable on the surface, but truckload costs are now projected to be up 16 to 17 percent year over year, according to C.H. Robinson’s April market update. Spot capacity is tightening as marginal carriers exit the industry. Fleet operators who survived the bust are now in a position to add capacity — and many of them are doing it through used units instead of stretching for new.

Third, tariffs are pushing buyers off the new truck. Section 232 duties have driven up the landed cost of new Class 8 tractors by an estimated $10,000 per unit, before you factor in the federal excise tax escalation that compounds on the higher base. A clean 2022 sleeper that traded for $85,000 last year now looks like real value next to a $230,000 new truck.

What this means if you’re selling

The window to get top dollar for a clean used unit is now better than it has been in three years. If you have a truck you’ve been meaning to sell, this spring is a reasonable time to put it on the market. The next 60 to 90 days should hold steady or modestly improve, with the strongest pricing on low-mileage, well-maintained 2021 to 2024 model years. Older units in their third life cycle are still trading at a discount, but even those are clearing faster than they did last year.

What gets you a premium: full service records, current inspection, no body damage, automated manual transmissions, and a sleeper that still smells like a clean truck.

What costs you money: missing logbook pages, deferred maintenance you knew about and didn’t fix, tires close to the bars, a dented bumper, and a DEF system showing active fault codes.

What this means if you’re buying

Don’t wait three months expecting prices to drop. They probably won’t. If you’ve identified a clean used truck at a fair number, this is the cycle to lock it in. Build slots on new equipment are tight, lead times for 2027-spec trucks are uncertain, and the used inventory that has been sitting around for two years is rapidly being absorbed.

If you’re working with Blue Capital Equipment Finance, the credit application process for used units is generally faster than for new, especially on units with strong residual values. OAC same-day approvals are standard here.

The cycle question

Used truck markets don’t turn on a single month of data. They turn when multiple indicators move together. We have inventory contracting. We have prices firming. We have new truck pricing pushing buyers down-market. We have a regulatory catalyst pulling future demand forward. All four of those are pointed the same direction.

For Mainland customers, the practical takeaway is this: 2026 is not the year to hold a truck you don’t need, and it is not the year to delay a purchase you’ve been planning. The market is rewarding action right now in a way it hasn’t for three years.

Come walk our lot. Bring your spec list. We will tell you straight which units we’re confident in and which ones we’d pass on. That has always been the deal here.

From our family to yours — make the move when the market lets you.

📍 9616 188 Street, Surrey, BC V4N 3M2 📞 1-866-888-6887 🌐 www.mainlandtts.com

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