
Commercialmotor.com speaks with Torsten Schreck, TopUsed director at MAN Truck & Bus UK, to find out how the used truck market reacted in 2023.
How has the used truck market been in 2023?
2023 had been a year full of contrast for the domestic Used Truck Business in the UK.
The first half of the year was still characterised by low stock levels and high market price values, very much like it was in 2022. After the summer break, the number of intakes for OEMs increased due to the better availability of new vehicles. And higher stock levels with constant demand led to price drops and a normalisation of market prices.
What have been the challenges in the used truck market this year?
Firstly, due to the higher availability of used trucks in the market, the brand competition got more intense. Secondly, the capacity of in-service workshops and external third-party suppliers got back to normal, just because of the pure volume in the market. This led to slightly longer lead times to prepare a vehicle for retail.
Have there been any welcome/unwelcome surprises?
Surprisingly for us our online activities paid off. We started to advertise more and more vehicles on our official MAN TopUsed website and we were able to generate a higher number of online leads and received positive customer feedback for availability and user interaction.
Furthermore, we could increase our export activities significantly, especially on higher mileage trucks above 600.000km.
What has happened to prices?
Prices are getting back to normal, and we can partially see pre-covid 19 price levels, especially for tractor units. Prices for 18t or 26t rigids are still on a good level, also due to lower availability and stable market demand. The demand for 8x4 Tippers went down significantly in the last couple of months.
What can we expect from the used market in 2024?
We still expect a positive development for our used truck business in the UK in 2024, and we are confident that we can expand our export activities with our partners in absorbing export markets further!
The domestic market will return to “normal”, and prices will stabilise on the existing level. Surely, the turn rate is becoming, even more, the most important KPI for all used truck suppliers again, just due to the high stock levels and return volumes. But the high availability of vehicles offers our customers a large selection of available used trucks as well, and they can decide between different models, colours, and specifications. Buying a high-quality and well-maintained used truck is very attractive again, and this is good news for our customers.