Poll: Seven in 10 fleets plan to buy trailers

Oct 31, 2003 12:00 PM, from staff and wire reports

Seventy percent of the fleets polled by CK Marketing & Communications in October indicated that they plan to purchase trailers sometime in the next six months, for both replacement (57%) and added capacity (43%). This is significantly up from the 48% reported in July and includes a strong demand for refrigerated units.

The poll is conducted quarterly with both private and for-hire fleets for The Fleet Sentiment Report published by CK Marketing & Communications. The fleets responding to the fourth-quarter survey operate an average of 1,800 total units.

Sixty-seven percent of those polled are planning purchases of power units over the same time period, with the majority (72%) of those being designated as replacement vehicles.

In response to a question regarding planned purchases surrounding the 2007 emissions mandate, a high percentage (65%) are taking a wait-and-see attitude and are undecided at this time as to whether they will avoid purchasing the first of these vehicles.

Included in orders for this new equipment are additional features such as tire pressure/inflation systems, on-board scales, air-ride suspensions, automatic transmissions with retarders, road surface temperature gauges, and auxiliary HVAC systems. For more details, e-mail chris@ckkemmercomm.com or visit www.ckkemmercomm.com.