Q3 2026 Analysis Shows Sustained Demand and Transaction Velocity

New vehicle sales velocity accelerates on leaner dealer lots, and pre-owned sales continue rising despite median mileage surge

Chico, CA, Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Work Truck Solutions^®, the leading commercial vehicle authority, has released its Q3 2026 Commercial Vehicle Market Analysis. Q3 data reveals a commercial vehicle market operating at healthy operational levels. Building on positive fleet replacement signals from Q2, new commercial vehicle sales movement per dealer expanded further even as on-lot availability tightened. Meanwhile, the pre-owned market continues to actively absorb fleet trade-ins, maintaining steady turnover, while increasing in transaction volume.

New Work Truck and Van Market

• The average final price for new work trucks increased a modest 0.8% Quarter over Quarter (QoQ) and 2.7% Year over Year (YoY).
• Following a brief Q2 plateau where inventory levels held flat, availability resumed its downward trend in Q3, with average on-lot inventory per dealer falling 3.1% QoQ to 126 units—a 22.2% contraction compared to Q3 2025.
• Sales (movement) per dealer rose 4.0% QoQ on the heels of Q2’s increase of 8.7, but down 3.7% YoY.
• Days to Turn (DTT) continued to improve, falling to 167 days, reflecting a 2.9% QoQ decrease and a significant 17.3% decline YoY.

New vehicle availability continues a general downward trend, keeping dealer lots lean. Lean inventory, paired with demand, is accelerating inventory turnover.

Used Work Truck and Van Market

• The average final price for used commercial vehicles held nearly steady with only a marginal 0.7% QoQ decrease, while remaining 13.3% higher YoY.
• On-lot used inventory per dealer dipped slightly, down 3.4% QoQ, but up 3.7% YoY.
• Sales (movement) grew 9.1% QoQ and 9.1% YoY.
• DTT QoQ numbers remained steady at 56 days, but YoY DTT was up 3.7% compared to the Q3 2025 DTT metric of 54 days.
• The 2-quarter upward trajectory of used vehicle’s median mileage nearly plateaued, revealing a minor drop of .2% QoQ, and 1.1% YoY.

A plateau in median mileage shows that fleet managers are again cycling their fleet inventory more readily. Pre-owned work trucks and vans are turning over in under two months, demonstrating strong B2B buyer appetite for affordable operational assets.

New Commercial BEV/PHEV/HEV Market Insights

The average final price for new battery electric (BEV), plugin hybrid electric (PHEV), and hybrid electric (HEV) work trucks climbed 19.1% Quarter over Quarter—sharply reversing last quarter’s 5.9% dip—and increased 14.2% Year over Year.

Segment Highlight: Regional Markets

This quarter also includes a new segment spotlight on regional data, where Central, Northeast, South, and West activity revealed several noteworthy shifts in pricing, inventory, and buyer behavior across IHS market regions. Readers can explore the full breakdown, including region-specific trends and insights, in our Q3 2026 Regional Market Analysis.  

Previous highlights were the Q1 Commercial Van Market Analysis and Q2 2026 Duty Classes Market Analysis.

Industry Perspective

“Our Q3 2026 data shows a commercial vehicle market that is running lean in terms of inventory,” said Aaron Johnson, CEO of Work Truck Solutions. “New work truck inventory dipped, yet sales rose for the quarter and days to turn dropped. Commercial buyers are not waiting on the sidelines. As work truck availability remains tight, inventory sourcing tools like our Vehicle Acquisition Search Tool are helping dealers find the work trucks that businesses need, even when they don’t have that specific inventory on-lot.”

Johnson added, “On the pre-owned side, we are seeing sustained momentum from fleet lifecycle rotations. Median mileage has essentially levelled off and sales are up over 9% quarter over quarter, with vehicles continuing to turn quickly. Dealers using targeted digital merchandising to highlight the ongoing reliability and work-readiness of these pre-owned work trucks and vans are capitalizing.”

It’s important to note that these datasets include multiple subsets averaged within the segments and don't necessarily reflect the individual dynamics of each subset. For instance, in the “New Work Trucks and Vans” dataset, some examples of the subsets included are Service Trucks, Box Trucks, and Stripped Chassis. The same is true for all segments: Price, Inventory, DTT, Sales, and Mileage.

About Work Truck Solutions

Work Truck Solutions is the industry’s platform and operating system that enables all stakeholders in the ecosystem—class 1-8 dealers, OEMs, upfitters, and distributors—to efficiently serve the businesses and fleet managers who need work trucks and vans. With innovative solutions supporting the vehicle sales life cycle through customer relationship management, inventory management, operational analytics, digital marketing and supply chain optimization, Work Truck Solutions helps those in the work truck and van space, no matter their role in the supply chain, by providing increased visibility and efficiency so that all businesses can focus on doing their jobs.

Attachments

• New Commercial Vehicle Metrics
• Used Commercial Vehicle Metrics

Steve Henning
Work Truck Solutions
530-718-1885
steve.henning@worktrucksolutions.com