What Equipment Dealers Think About the Market Heading Into Q3 2025
7/15/2025After several years of supply swings, inflation, and pricing instability, the used equipment market remains volatile. Dealers are under pressure to manage aging inventory while aligning expectations with increasingly cautious buyers.
To better understand current sentiment among equipment dealers, Tractor Zoom hosted a recent webinar featuring two used equipment managers – Benet Snyder of Van Wall Equipment and Ben Freidhof of Ziegler Ag – to discuss best practices for moving used equipment. During the session, dealers attending answered live poll questions about inventory categories, pricing trends, and short-term priorities.
This piece explores these results to highlight where dealer concerns are focused, as well as what their responses reveal about the broader state of the equipment market.
Read key takeaways from Tractor Zoom’s webinar on best practices for moving used equipment, or watch the on-demand video now.
Equipment categories driving the most concern
When asked which types of used equipment were most concerning heading into 2025, there was a pretty wide spread across categories. However, combines topped the list, with nearly double the responses of other categories.
Poll question: What categories of equipment are most concerning to you?
Response breakdown:
- Combines: 28%
- Sprayers: 16%
- Row Crop Tractors: 15%
- 4WD Tractors: 15%
- Planters: 12%
- Headers: 4%
- Cotton Pickers: 4%
- Utility & Compact Tractors: 3%
- Lawn/Turf: 3%
Key takeaways:
- Combines continue to be the biggest source of dealer anxiety. This aligns with their inventory share, which is about 20% of the average dealership’s total equipment value.
- Sprayers also remain a major concern, despite flat year-over-year supply. Inventory aging and declining turns are likely driving the worry.
- The surprise shift came from 4WD high-horsepower tractors, which saw the largest increase in concern compared to a similar poll taken in December 2024. These machines barely registered in last year’s poll but are now tied for third.
- Planters, headers, and cotton pickers generated moderate concern but didn’t crack the top tier.
These results confirm what many dealers are already experiencing. Concern is closely tied to the volume, value, and velocity of inventory, and the categories seeing slower movement or higher depreciation are rising to the top of the worry list.
Both Freidhof and Snyder were in agreement with the overall dealer sentiment here as well, seeing combines and sprayers as the standout categories of concern when it comes to getting equipment off the lot.
General market sentiment: When will we hit bottom?
With pricing pressure intensifying across categories, one of the biggest questions on dealers’ minds is, “Have we hit bottom yet, or are things still heading downward?”
Poll question: When do you think we'll hit the bottom of the used equipment market?
Response breakdown:
- In 2026: 28%
- End of 2025: 27%
- No clue (that’s why I’m here): 23%
- We’re in it now: 10%
- Later this summer (Aug 2025): 6%
- Already happened: 5%
What this tells us:
- Nearly two-thirds of respondents believe the market bottom will come no earlier than the end of 2025 or sometime in 2026.
- Only around 5% of dealers think the market has already bottomed.
- A significant portion (around 23%) openly admitted they were uncertain, which underscores how unpredictable and complex the market feels right now.
This uncertainty is not just anecdotal, as it’s backed up by uneven movement across equipment categories. For instance, auction prices on combines and certain high-hour tractors are softening, while some newer models are holding stronger.
Even with minor rebounds in Q1, the consensus among dealers is that we’re not out of the woods yet. And for most dealers, the focus now isn’t on predicting the bottom, but on managing through it.
Market volatility has changed how dealers evaluate equipment
In a market defined by shifting values and cautious buyers, timing matters more than ever, especially when it comes to pricing and trade-in evaluation.
Poll question: How far back is too far when evaluating comparable equipment sales?
Response breakdown:
- 6 months: 39%
- 9 months: 19%
- 12 months: 17%
- 3 months: 14%
- 18 months: 10%
- 24 months: 1%
What dealers said:
- When it comes to the question of “how old is too old,” nearly 40% of dealers said that any sold data after 6 months has outlived its relevance.
- 3 to 6 months now appears to be the general window for trusted comparables – anything older risks being irrelevant.
- Only one respondent said they look as far back as two years.
This marks a significant shift. In more stable markets, 12- to 18-month-old sale comps might still hold value. Today, not so much.
Why it matters:
- Dealers view auction data from Q4 2023 (and December especially) as perceived as “artificially inflated” due to end-of-year buying habits.
- Many dealers have retooled their pricing workflows, adding tighter review cycles or using tools like Tractor Zoom Pro to automate evaluation timelines and comp filtering by recency.
- Real-time valuation is no longer a luxury but a requirement for staying competitive and keeping inventory moving.
Dealer priorities for the second half of 2025
Despite all the uncertainty in the market, dealers seem aligned that they need to focus on one core priority: Moving used equipment off the lot.
Poll question: If you had to choose one priority for the rest of 2025, what would it be?
Response breakdown:
- Sell more used equipment: 54%
- Improve operational efficiency: 19%
- Sell more new equipment: 14%
- Increase absorption (parts & service): 14%
What this tells us:
- A clear majority of dealers see used inventory as their biggest challenge for the remainder of the year, but also their biggest opportunity.
- While new equipment sales and absorption remain important, they’ve taken a back seat in the short term.
- The focus on efficiency is a reflection of tightened margins, but many dealers acknowledge that cost-cutting alone won’t fix inventory pressure.
“You can’t save your way to prosperity forever. At the end of the day the only way out of this is to sell more.” —Ben Freidhof, Ziegler Ag
Why it matters:
- As aging used inventory stacks up, it restricts a dealer’s ability to take on new trades or hit new sales targets. Panelists emphasized the need to be proactive by repricing frequently, reviewing aged units, and working closely with sales teams to stay ahead of the curve.
- Some dealerships are using centralized systems and recurring “inventory review reminders” to trigger timely actions and keep deals moving.
This focus isn’t just about clearing space. It’s about staying agile, protecting margins, and creating the conditions to restart new equipment flow in 2026.
Broader takeaways from these dealer sentiment results
The poll data and panelist insights point to a reality where dealers aren’t just navigating a tough market, they’re adapting to it. While concerns around specific equipment categories are real, so is the willingness to respond with tighter processes, smarter data use, and sharper pricing discipline.
In the first two quarters of 2025, inventory is still up significantly from previous years, especially for pricier categories.
1. Inventory pressure is driving strategic change
Combines, sprayers, and 4WD tractors are taking up space and tying up cash. Dealers know this, and they’re pushing used units aggressively to make room for future trades.
Equipment categories that didn’t raise concern (like utility tractors or cotton pickers) often reflect lower market saturation or regional variation, rather than market strength.
2. Pricing has become a real-time discipline
Dealers are increasingly relying on tools that keep pricing decisions anchored in current market data and veering away from outdated comps or “gut feel.”
Centralized valuation processes, automated review cycles, and compressed comp windows (3-6 months) are becoming standard.
3. The market bottom may be shallow, but prolonged
The majority of respondents don’t expect a meaningful rebound until late 2025 or 2026. For many, the goal isn’t to “time the bottom” but to stay operationally sound until market difficulties pass.
4. Used strategy is the short-term path forward
Dealers are doubling down on used inventory as the lever they can control. This doesn’t mean they’re ignoring new sales or absorption, but used is where risk and opportunity sit today.
In short, dealers are adjusting and not simply waiting. They’re watching the market closely, using better data tools, and building tighter processes to stay competitive and avoid being caught off guard. The industry may not have hit the bottom yet, but savvy dealers are already positioning themselves to rise with the next cycle.
Keep listening to the discussion on the front lines and prepare for the future
Used equipment managers know better than most how quickly the market can shift, and how important it is to stay ahead of it. The poll responses and panel insights from this used equipment best practices webinar paint a clear picture of dealers both facing the pressure and taking action over it.
They’re tracking aging inventory more closely, tightening their valuation timelines, and prioritizing used equipment movement as their most immediate lever. And they’re doing it using equipment valuation tools and inventory management solutions like those offered by Tractor Zoom.
While the market bottom may still be a year or more away (depending on who you ask), the path forward involves planning, adapting, and executing with clarity using timely data.