Penske to Sell Used Trucks on eBay

Penske Truck Leasing, Reading, Pa., partnered with Web auction site eBay to expand used vehicle sales online.

The $4 billion company, which said it will put a broad range of commercial vehicles up for bid on eBay Motors, opened its own eBay store Wednesday.

Penske, based in Reading, Pa., manages 200,000 leased or rented vehicles and sells about 25,000 used vehicles a year. 

The eBay partnership is part of a plan to expand beyond Penske's traditional third-party sales channels and stay ahead in a very competitive market, said Jack Mitchell, vice president of remarketing.

“What drew us to eBay is there is no better way to get visibility," he said. "eBay Motors alone gets 13 million visitors a month.”

Penske equipment will be part of the searchable data base on eBay Motors, or customers can do directly to Penske's eBay store.

Penske launched its own online store where customers can buy used vehicles two months ago, said Mitchell. It has an inventory of about 7,000 vehicles.

Penske hasn't seen much of a drop in used truck sales this year, Mitchell said, despite excess capacity in all sectors of the trucking industry.

"We’ve sold almost 10,000 vehicles through July, and that’s almost where we were a year ago," he said.

Many of the buyers are small businesses looking to buy relatively new, well-maintained equipment, he said. On average, Penske's used equipment is about five years old.

He said the company will "test" the eBay store to see which vehicles sell best at auction. "We have modest expectations this year, and we'll try to grow it slowly," said Mitchell.

Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.