Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting (CMVC)’s Parts Aftermarket Sales Leading Indicator (PLI) fell for the eleventh consecutive month in October from September, signaling lower parts aftermarket sales in the coming months. The fleet environment has changed substantially over the past 12 months, resulting in lower parts aftermarket sales, CVMC said.

“The commercial vehicle population is expanding, but a host of factors are weighing on parts aftermarket sales including new and used truck operators upgrading their fleets and returning average age back to a norm, increasing supplies of idled trucks on the used truck market and trucks staying on the used truck market for a longer period of time due to the soft freight environment and a downward trend in fleet capacity utilization indicating the rate at which the truck population is depreciating is slowing,” said Chris Brady, president of CMVC. “In the short-term, these factors are more than offsetting an expanding commercial vehicle population resulting in lower parts aftermarket sales.”