MCLEAN, VA — The price of used class-8 trucks is on the rise and will remain that way throughout the summer, reports show.

“High new-truck pricing combined with a low returning supply of used equipment has resulted in sustained price inflation,” said Chris Visser, senior analyst with the American Truck Dealers’ (ATD) Commercial Truck Guide, a division of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

On average, used sleepers sold for $48,809 with 554,402 miles in April 2012, whereas in September 2011, the market had set peak prices of $49, 539 and the average mileage was 541,218, ATD and NADA reports show. Currently, the price of a class-8 vehicle is approximately $730 lower, or 1.5 percent lower than peak prices in 2011 and average mileage is 2.4 percent higher, or an average mileage 13,184 higher.

Since their peak in September 2011, prices have been declining from October 2011 through February 2012. And from January all through April, retail prices for class 8-sleeper tractors increased again, despite average mileage near-record highs, according to Visser.

Reports show that as of April, prices of class-8 sleepers will be on cruise control at the current high level.

“Because of the low new-truck build rate from 2007 to 2010 combined with the slow but steady domestic recovery, we expect the supply and demand relationship to favor high pricing for sleeper tractors going forward,” Visser said.