Fleet vehicle sales across three main sectors fell in June resulting in a year-to-date sales total barely above last year’s mark, according to monthly and mid-year fleet sales figures released by Bobit on July 2.

Despite losing monthly momentum, fleet sales in commercial, rental, and government sectors for the first half of 2024 hit 1,224,644 vehicles, up 2% from the 1,200,113 vehicles sold in the first six months of 2023.

But monthly fleet sales for the three sectors fell again in June with 198,693 vehicles sold into fleets, down 8.7% from the 217,572 vehicles sold in June 2023.

“I’m surprised by the slowdown in rental and commercial fleet sales, which in times past might have instead had an uptick as retail new vehicle sales softened,” said Tom Kontos, chief economist for ADESA Auctions U.S. “I can only presume that rental and commercial fleet demand has been better satisfied lately after years of undersupply during and immediately after the pandemic.

Bobit, owner of Automotive Fleet and Auto Rental News, compiles fleet sales numbers that reflect aggregate sales from the three major Detroit-based auto manufacturers and the Asian Big 6 manufacturers.

Broken Down by Fleet Sector

• Commercial: 79,867 vehicles were sold into commercial fleets in June 2024, compared to 83,786 in June of last year, for a decline of 4.7%.

• Rental: 94,855 vehicles were sold into rental fleets in June, compared to 106,853 in June 2023, for an 11.2% drop. Rental fleets had been propping up overall fleet vehicle sales so far this year.

• Government:  Fleet vehicle sales fell to 23,971 in June 2024 from 26,933 in the same month last year, dropping 11%. (Note: Apples-to-apples comparisons with government fleet sales are not possible due to one or more OEMs not reporting any sales from month to month. For the month of June, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota did not report any sales into government fleets).

“I am still am encouraged by the year-to-date figures, which still show a modest increase that bodes well for future used vehicle supply," Kontos said.