April 2024 Fleet Sales Lose Q1 Momentum

In recent months, the three primary fleet sectors each have lurched among gains and losses in fleet vehicle sales, with one of them at least signaling a recovering fleet market while one or two others deviate from that trend.

For April, government fleet sales rose at a moderate pace, while commercial fleet sales fell at its highest rate so far this year and rental car fleet sales dipped slightly after a miniscule gain in March.

Bobit, owner of Automotive Fleet, compiles fleet sales numbers that reflect aggregate sales from the three major Detroit-based auto manufacturers and the Asian Big 6 manufacturers. Numbers for April 2024 broken down by sector show:

• Commercial Fleets: 71,213 vehicles sold in April 2024, down 14.3% from 83,078 in April 2023. That percentage decrease was 0.1% ahead of a 14.2% monthly year-over-year (YOY) decline in January and the steepest monthly fall since a 22% YOY dip in November 2023.
• Rental Fleets: 105,261 vehicles sold in April 2024, down 2% from 107,421 in April 2023. In the last two months, auto rental fleet sales have gone from a spike to flat, up 0.3% in March and up a strong 46% in February.
• Government Fleets: 25,835 vehicles sold in April 2024, up 8.3% from 23,863 in April 2023. Four automakers — Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota — have not reported government fleet sales for February through April, while Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota did not report numbers for January.

April government fleet sales are at their highest monthly total so far in 2024, rising from 19,821 in January.

In sum, total April 2024 fleet sales stood at 202,309, down 5.6% from 214,362 in April 2023.

So far in 2024, total monthly fleet sales have fallen year-over-year in March and April, while rising in January and February. That means year-to-date (YTD) fleet sales are still holding on to a small increase, at 809,564, up 4.1% from 777,895 in Jan-April 2023.

“The important number for me was 4.1% uptick YOY in fleet sales,” said Tom Kontos, chief economist for ADESA Auctions U.S. “That’s being driven by the rental fleet sales, which are up 16% YTD. As a share of new vehicle sales, fleet sales were stable relative to new vehicle sales. These are still respectable fleet sales numbers YTD.”