TYSONS, Va. (April 18, 2018) – The nation’s franchised new medium- and heavy-duty truck dealerships employed more than 145,300 people in 2017, up 12.3 percent from 2016, according to new report released today by the American Truck Dealers (ATD).

“Overall employment at U.S. truck dealerships is the highest it has been in the last five years,” said ATD Senior Economist Patrick Manzi. “Truck dealers continue to contribute to their communities with jobs that pay well and offer the ability for advancement. Last year, the majority of truck dealership employees saw their incomes rise.” 

Manzi added that having an adequate number of staff to meet customer demand helps truck dealerships minimize downtime for their clients, but demand remains high for technical positions in the service department.

ATD Data 2017, an annual financial profile of America’s franchised new-truck dealerships, includes a departmental sales analysis of new and used trucks, service and parts and body shop as well as employment figures and more.

Other highlights from ATD Data 2017 include:

• Franchised truck dealers sold 415,042 medium- and heavy-duty trucks, up 3.7 percent;
• Total new-truck dealership sales topped $97 billion, up 13.9 percent;
• Truck dealerships wrote more than 11 million repair orders and totaled more than $31 billion in service and parts sales, up 13.7% and 13.2% respectively; and
• There were 2,265 new-truck dealerships, up from 2,261 in 2016.

Looking to the future, Manzi added that real-time communication between the dealership’s service center and the driver will reduce downtime and get drivers back on the road faster than ever before.

“With new and advanced communication technologies, commercial vehicle drivers can receive up-to-date information about which dealerships in the area have the parts and availability to service their vehicles the fastest,” he said. “Truck drivers will no longer have to stop and wait while they find out if a dealer has a part they need.” 

Click here to download ATD Data 2017. 

ATD, a division of the National Automobile Dealers Association, represents more than 1,800 medium- and heavy-duty truck dealerships.