Market Report: Fuel Pricing Impacts Truck Ownership

Market Report: Fuel Pricing Impacts Truck Ownership

Fuel prices spiked in mid 2022, negatively impacting costs of delivering goods and squeezing profits.  This, after two years of adjusting to the realities of Covid-19, and the pandemic’s impact on the US economy. While fleets still delivered despite the higher diesel prices, the impact on fleet owners, including owner operators, had many looking closely at how to continue to operate profitably.

While it is no secret that fuel pricing has increased over the past year, the increase in diesel prices for the northeastern states was higher than those in the south and western states.  The northeast sat closer to the lower end of the price spectrum for diesel in August of 2021 while in 2022 it has increased to some of the higher priced throughout the United States.

The mileage seen on heavy duty trucks will be discussed in detail in the next parts of the market report, but there have been consecutive increases in average mileage on heavy duty truck listings since Q3 of 2021.  As drivers are running these trucks longer (seen in average age increases) with higher mileage, these fuel price increases are becoming costly for the less fuel-efficient trucks.

This is Part 1 of a five-part series on managing fuel costs as part of the Price Digests Market Report on shifting truck values. (Read Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5 or download the entire guide.)