Used Truck Market Remains Solid in June

According to the latest figures from ACT Research, the used truck market maintained its momentum throughout June. This stability is a welcome sign for those in the trucking industry, especially for owner-operators and small carriers navigating the pressures of equipment upgrades and fleet expansion. Compared to the volatility seen in other segments of the market, used trucks have consistently shown resilience, offering a cost-effective solution for fleets needing to maintain or expand capacity without the financial strain of new equipment purchases.

For small carriers considering fleet expansion, this stable market could mean advantageous timing for purchasing used trucks, especially as we move deeper into the second half of 2026 when market dynamics may shift. It's crucial for those in the market to continually assess the landscape, making proactive decisions based on emerging trends that support long-term business stability and growth. Tapping into platforms such as VAU0's fleet management system can help manage these new acquisitions efficiently.

FMCSA's 2026 Regulatory Agenda: Top Trucking Rules to Watch

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has laid out its regulatory agenda for 2026, putting a spotlight on several key rules that could significantly impact the trucking industry. Among these, updates to hours of service regulations, advancements in autonomous vehicle integration, and stricter emissions standards are expected to reshape operating norms. These changes are primarily aimed at increasing safety and environmental benefits, yet they come with operational challenges for carriers.

For small to mid-sized carriers, staying abreast of these regulations is essential. Not only do these rules affect daily operations, but non-compliance can lead to heavy fines and operational downtime. Carriers can mitigate these impacts by integrating compliance management tools, such as those offered by VAU0, which help in maintaining up-to-date compliance across various regulatory requirements. Detailed information on this can be found on VAU0's compliance page.

An ELD Reset? FMCSA to Propose Rule Revisions

The FMCSA is also exploring potential revisions to the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations. These changes are intended to streamline usage rules and address prevalent concerns within the industry. As ELDs are a critical tool for maintaining compliance with hours of service laws, any alterations in this space can have considerable implications for daily trucking operations.

Carriers should anticipate these proposed changes and prepare to adapt accordingly. It's advisable for fleet operators to stay updated with these developments and engage with ELD providers to ensure their systems are fully adaptable to meet future regulatory changes. This proactive approach can help avoid disruptions and maintain operational continuity.

BulkLoads Expands Ag Freight Footprint with Livestock Network Acquisition

In a strategic move, BulkLoads has acquired the Livestock Network, signaling their intent to expand its presence within the agricultural freight market. This acquisition opens new opportunities for carriers involved with agricultural and livestock transportation, offering enhanced networking and job-matching capabilities. For small carriers in this niche, harnessing this expanded network could lead to increased load opportunities and route optimization.

By leveraging the new resources offered through BulkLoads, owner-operators can better align their services with customer demands, potentially improving their market position. Additionally, engaging with freight platforms that offer integrated technology solutions, such as those by VAU0, can streamline operations and improve load management efficiency.

That Time Mack Trucks Threw a Birthday Party

An interesting anecdote shared in Heavy Duty Trucking recalls an unusual event where Mack Trucks organized a birthday party, underscoring their commitment to community and customer engagement. While this story brings a lighter note to the industry, it highlights the importance of solid customer-manufacturer relationships, which can drive loyalty and business success.

Small carriers can take this event as a reminder of the value of building strong relationships with manufacturers and suppliers. Open communication and active partnerships with these stakeholders can offer benefits beyond just the purchase, including better service, timely support, and potentially advantageous deals.

A stable used truck market offers a cost-effective pathway for fleet expansion without burdening carriers with new equipment expenses, thus securing operational growth amid market changes.

What Carriers Should Do This Week

• Review used truck market trends and evaluate opportunities for fleet expansion.
• Stay informed on FMCSA's regulatory agenda and prepare for upcoming rule changes.
• Engage with your ELD provider to ensure your system can adapt to proposed FMCSA revisions.
• Explore expanded job opportunities through BulkLoads’ newly acquired networks.
• Invest in building and maintaining relationships with manufacturers and suppliers.

In 2022, we were running a small fleet and spending approximately $400 per truck per month on software. TMS license, ELD subscription, e-sign service, separate accounting integration. Four different logins. Four different monthly invoices. Four different support teams to call when something didn't work.

None of it talked to each other without manual data entry.

The software evaluation that changed everything

We spent three months evaluating every major TMS and fleet management system on the market. AscendTMS, McLeod, Motive, EZLogz, KeepTruckin, TruckingOffice, Axon. We signed up for demos, trials, and in two cases, paid for actual subscriptions to test them properly.

What we found was consistent across almost all of them: the software was built by people who had never dispatched a truck. You could tell immediately. The terminology was slightly wrong. The workflows assumed steps that no real dispatcher would take. The ELD and TMS were always separate systems that "integrated" — meaning they sometimes shared data, if you configured things correctly, and the configuration broke whenever either vendor pushed an update.

"The best way to evaluate trucking software is to use it under real pressure. Not in a demo. Not in a test environment. On a real load, with a real deadline, when a broker is calling every 30 minutes for an update."

The specific things that were broken

Without naming specific vendors: one major TMS required five screen transitions to update a load status. Not five clicks — five full page navigations. On a mobile browser from a truck stop, that meant 45 seconds to tell a broker the truck was loaded. Another system had beautiful analytics dashboards but couldn't tell you, in real time, how many hours of drive time your driver had remaining without navigating to a separate compliance module.

The ELD market was worse. Most ELD systems were designed to satisfy FMCSA's technical requirements — which they did — while making the user experience as painful as possible. Drivers hated them. When drivers hate their tools, they find workarounds. Workarounds create compliance risk.

The moment we decided to build

The decision was made on a Tuesday afternoon when our dispatcher spent 40 minutes re-entering data from a rate confirmation PDF that our ELD had already captured in a different system. The information existed. It was digital. It lived in three different places that didn't talk to each other, and a human was manually transferring it between systems.

That's not a technology problem. That's a lack of ambition problem. Nobody had decided to solve it because the existing systems were profitable enough without solving it.

What we decided to build instead

One platform. ELD and TMS as the same system, not integrations. AI that reads rate confirmation PDFs so dispatchers don't have to. A dispatcher — eventually an AI dispatcher — that covers nights and weekends so loads don't get missed. E-sign built in, not bolted on.

And priced at zero through 2026, because the goal was to prove the product worked before asking carriers to pay for it.

Two years in: did it work?

The Rate Con AI has a 95%+ accuracy rate on standard broker formats. ERETH ELD passed FMCSA's technical certification. Our AI dispatchers book real loads for real carriers after hours. The carrier dashboard still occasionally has a minor bug — we fix them the same day they're reported.

Would we have been better off just using an existing system and focusing on freight? Financially, in the short term, probably yes. But we would have kept paying $400 per truck per month for software that we knew was mediocre. And we would have missed the opportunity to build something that actually works the way the industry needs it to work.

We don't regret it.