Lloydminster 鈥� Things are picking up for truck sales, according to Roger Deeks, works in sales with First Truck Centre in Lloydminster. They are the Western Star and Freightliner dealer for the region.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely picking up. The thing that鈥檚 really holding us back from the numbers we did before is our customers just aren鈥檛 making the rates that they used to. They can barely afford to fix, let alone replace,鈥� he said.
鈥淚n 2015, 2016, there was no clarity and consistency of work. 2017 started to get better, a bit of an upturn. 鈥�18 is better than 鈥�17. But there鈥檚 still a lot of tired iron guys haven鈥檛 touched yet.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e starting to see some new startups. They鈥檙e buying a little bit of iron,鈥� he said.
The established fleets, they鈥檙e primarily fixing, he noted.
He鈥檚 seen some hydrovac companies and a pumpjack outfit.
鈥淏asically, a lot of the things that are going are so that they can be diversified so they are not fully in the oilfield industry. So they can be oilfield or construction, utility work and stuff. They can do fibre optics,鈥� he said.
There鈥檚 a mix of replacement and new units going out, he said.
Deeks noted that auctions often take precedence over buying new, and those deals are now over. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 steal them anymore. It鈥檚 getting to the point now where there鈥檚 a lot less iron out there.鈥�
Freight Transportation Research Associates, Inc.鈥檚 website ftrintel.com noted noted that Industry-wide, the North American truck market for Class 8 trucks hit an all-time high in August, with approximately 52,400 trucks ordered. Those numbers are more than 2.5 time higher than the same month in 2017, a trend that has continued for all of 2018. Most months in 2018 have seen double the number of truck orders that were made in the same month in 2017.
Optimism in America is a big factor, with low unemployment, business optimism high.
Lead times from the factory, as a result, are extended beyond normal as a result.
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