Truck rental prices climb as industry eyes recovery

Truck rental prices in June rose to their highest point of the year as the transportation sector works to bounce back from a yearslong slump.  

The pricing index for commercial truck and RV rentals reached 123.2 last month, according to Equipment Finance News’ new data dashboard. That’s the highest the index has been since July 2023, when it stood at 124.1. 

The dashboard, updated monthly to track data in the equipment finance industry, shows that truck rental prices have been steadily increasing since falling to 119.3 in February this year.  

Rising prices signal potential recovery for a transportation sector that’s in a recession amid high interest rates, decreased consumer spending and other challenges facing the industry.

“I think summer 2024 and going forward, we’re going to start to see glimmers of hope and improvement in a lot of the data,” Daniel Murray, senior vice president at the American Transportation Research Institute, told EFN.

Equipment Finance News data 

EFN data provides various pricing indices for equipment rentals and leasing; categories include RVs, commercial trucks and construction, forestry and mining machinery. Data also sheds light on consumer demand by tracking manufacturers’ new order volume, value of shipments, unfulfilled orders and total inventories. 

To further quantify consumer demand and market growth, the dashboard shows the number of establishments in agriculture, construction and transportation, with quarterly percentage changes.  

The performance of key publicly traded companies in the industry are also tracked, including for Caterpillar, Deere & Co., PACCAR, Titan Machinery and First Citizens Bancshares. An industry stock index, derived from pricing of about 20 key companies in equipment finance, provides a broad overview of the industry. 

 Access Equipment Finance News’ newly launched data dashboard for more insights here.