It’s hard to say if this has been the slowest year ever, or the fastest. It’s definitely been the weirdest. Now that we’re into the second half of the year, it seems like a good time for a status check. How does your used equipment inventory look compared to the start of the year?

Looking at Ag Equipment Intelligence’s Dealer Sentiments Report, back in January a net 23% of dealers reported their used equipment inventory was too high. Fast forward to June (the latest number available) and that’s down to a net 4% of dealers saying their used equipment inventory is too high. Used combine inventories are a slightly different story though.

Back in January, a net 26% of dealers said their used combine inventory was too high. It’s up to a net 40% in June. From a pricing standpoint, in the latest survey dealers reported used equipment pricing being down 2% year-over-year in June. Large tractor pricing was down 3% year-over-year vs. down 1% year-over-year in May, according to the report, and used combine pricing was down 5% year-over-year.

Sinclair Tractor created some buzz last month with a huge, no-reserve online only inventory reduction auction — including 74 combines, many of them late model, low hour units. Reportedly, the auction brought in $15-20 million. “Sinclair's definitely stuck their neck out there and took a big gamble. And I think it really paid off for them,” said Matt Sullivan with Sullivan Auctioneers which ran the auction, on the Used Equipment Remarketing Roadmaps podcast with Casey Seymour.

Want to check in with our dealers on how they're managing their used equipment? Tune in for our 2020 Virtual Dealership Minds Summit — Profit Turning Trades. Day one went great, and if you’re not already registered and watching the sessions, you can still join in! Just head to www.DealershipMindsSummit.com.

And, you’ve still got time to log in for the live roundtable sessions (10:30 a.m. central time on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and 2 pm central time on Wednesday, Aug. 5) as well as the live panel Applying the ‘Good to Great’ Dealership Flywheel, which features George Russell, Farm Equipment columnist and founding member of the Machinery Advisory Consortium; James Kingston, ag sales director, Monroe Tractor; Mike Linton, co-owner, Heritage Ag; John Hawkins, used equipment and marketing manager, Martin Sullivan; and Michele Lewandowski, co-owner, Farmers Implement & Irrigation.