Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/111733
By Lucas Deal, Associate Editor lucasdeal@randallreilly.com Trailer Market Update Selling to the trailer market The current trailer population provides opportunity for aftermarket businesses A The need for tanker parts and service is continuing to grow as fracking efforts expand nationwide. lot of time, money and energy are invested in the aftermarket on trucks. While that effort is justi���ed, the trucks themselves aren���t the only pieces of equipment that require maintenance and repairs. Trailers need work, too. Aftermarket businesses that don���t maximize their ability to provide parts and service to the trailer market are missing an opportunity to strengthen their business. In this economy, any possible avenue to strengthen a business is one worth investigating. According to information provided by MacKay & Company at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue in January in Las Vegas, there were nearly four million 22 T R U C K PA R T S & S E R V I C E | TPS0313PG022-25_Trailer Market.indd 22 commercial trailers in the United States in 2012. The average age of those trailers was 10.5 years, a full year increase from 2008. While a ���rst-quarter 2013 CK Commercial Vehicle Research poll shows new trailer sales on the rise, MacKay projections still see the trailer population remaining at or above 10 years old through 2017. ���I think that provides great potential for the aftermarket,��� says Jack Scarff, director of service at Wabash National Trailer Centers. A 40-year veteran of the industry, Scarff cites improved trailer designs and usage plans among his reasons for optimism. ���[Fleets] are still purchasing new trailers, but when they do they want to keep them a lot longer,��� he says. ���I can remember a few years ago the life cycle of most trailers was ���ve to seven years. Now Trailer OEMs have seen a recent rise in the sale of ���atbed trailers used to supply products to a resurgent housing market. March 2013 2/20/13 3:13 PM