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$280,000? 18-Year-Old Semi Sells for Record Price, Signaling Pre-DEF Equipment Demand Is Surging
A record-setting sale of an 18-year-old pre-DEF semi has Machinery Pete pointing to strong demand for used equipment, even as high prices and weak demand continue to weigh on the new farm machinery market.
By Tyne Morgan
Updated December 18, 2025 12:14 PM
(Machinery Pete)
An 18-year-old semi just set a record at auction, offering one of the clearest signals yet of where demand is flowing in today’s machinery market — and where it isn’t.
A 2007 Peterbilt 379, built before diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) systems were required, sold for $280,000 during a late-year consignment auction in North Dakota. The truck was a rare example: one owner, always shedded, and showing just 20,817 miles. Still, the price stunned even seasoned auction watchers.
Greg Peterson — better known as Machinery Pete — says the sale eclipses every previous result he has tracked for the iconic model.
“I’ve seen about 2,800 Pete 379s over the last 25 years,” Peterson says. “The previous high was $262,000, and that was back in July 2022 when the whole market was absolutely on fire. To come along now and just smoke that number, with an 18-year-old truck, that tells you something.”
That “something,” Peterson says, is demand not just for trucks, but for pre-emissions equipment across agriculture and transportation. Auctions, he notes, are brutally honest. They don’t care about model-year labels or marketing cycles. They simply reflect what buyers want — and what they are willing to pay for.
“That Peterbilt is an 18-year-old truck,” Peterson says. “And it brings $280,000. Auctions don’t lie. They tell you exactly what people want — and right now, that’s used, pre-DEF equipment.”
Used Equipment Values Gain Momentum
The Peterbilt sale is not an isolated case. Peterson says used equipment values, broadly speaking, have been strengthening for much of the year — a trend that runs counter to what the machinery market has historically done during periods of soft farm income.“Used values started to solidify in the third week of February,” Peterson says. “They held, held, held. Then we got into November and December and it was like, ‘Katie, bar the door.’ I’ve never seen this in my 36 years.”
What makes the current cycle unusual, he says, is not just that used values are strong — it’s that they’re strengthening at a time when new equipment sales are clearly contracting.
“In the past, when I’ve seen auction prices take off like this, it’s always been equivalent to optimal conditions for new equipment sales,” Peterson says. “That ain’t the case this time.”
Recent auction data reinforces the point. A 2011 Case IH 6088 combine, pre-DEF and with low hours, sold for $178,000, the highest auction price for that model in nearly 11 years. A 2009 John Deere 8295R tractor with just over 1,000 hours brought $230,000, the strongest result in more than 30 months.
“I’ve never seen used values going up while new sales are going down,” Peterson says. “Never.”
Price of New Forces a Rethink
Peterson says the underlying force behind this shift is impossible to ignore: the cost of new equipment.“I don’t know how tall the ceiling is, but that’s the price of new,” he says. “We understand why prices went up — labor, materials, everything through the pandemic — but at some point you have to ask, ‘Just because you can raise the price, should you?’”
As the grain downturn stretches on, Peterson says farmers have had time to pause and reassess their operations — and their machinery lineups.
“What it’s done is it’s given farmers time to catch their breath,” he says. “They’re saying, ‘We’ve got a lot of iron on this farm. We’ve got more equipment than my dad had and more than my grandpa had. Do we really need all this going forward?’”
That mindset shift doesn’t necessarily mean farmers will stop buying equipment forever. But Peterson says it has changed buying behavior — especially in the short term — and it’s pushed many operators toward well-kept used machines rather than six- or seven-figure new purchases.
“When the money’s not flowing, people think differently,” he says. “That’s just the reality.”
Dealers, Manufacturers Pull Back on New
At the same time farmers are stepping back, Peterson says the supply side of the market has also changed in ways that amplify used-equipment demand.Manufacturers have dramatically reduced production, closing plants and laying off workers at levels Peterson says he has never seen before. While painful, those moves have eliminated excess new inventory sitting on dealer lots — and the interest expense that comes with it.
“What manufacturers have achieved is basically no backlog of new equipment,” Peterson says.
He says dealer consolidation over the past decade has played a major role. Larger dealer groups now carry more leverage with manufacturers, and when the slowdown hit, dealers acted quickly.
“They were paying 8% interest on all this stuff sitting on their lots,” Peterson says. “Their No. 1 mission wasn’t selling new equipment. Their No. 1 mission was, ‘We are going to move this one-, two-, three-year-old stuff.’”
Manufacturers responded with incentives to help dealers clear late-model used inventory — a level of cooperation Peterson says he has not seen in more than three decades of tracking the market.
“I’ve never seen that level of coordination before,” he says. “And the focus clearly shifted away from new.”
Pre-DEF Machines Command a Premium
Layered on top of price and supply issues is deep frustration with emissions systems. Peterson says pre-DEF equipment — whether trucks, tractors or combines — now stands out immediately to buyers.“The good pre-emission stuff jumps forward like a neon sign,” he says.
That demand is no longer subtle. Practices that once happened quietly, such as emissions deletions, are now openly acknowledged — and reflected in sale prices.
“It used to be hush-hush,” Peterson says. “It’s not anymore. People say it right on the auction bill because it sells for more money. It just flat does.”
He says recent political discussion around environmental regulations has only amplified that sentiment, particularly among farmers who feel reliability and repair costs have been compromised.
“When he talked about it, I honestly thought it was an AI clip at first,” Peterson says. “He sounded like every farmer I’ve talked to for the last 15 years.”
New Equipment Demand Remains Weak
While used values climb, new equipment sales continue to struggle. November data show four-wheel-drive tractor sales down 19%, with self-propelled combine sales down 35% for the month and nearly 40% year-to-date. Livestock producers remain a bright spot, but on the grain side, Peterson says demand is clearly subdued.Looking ahead, he says today’s production cuts could have major consequences when farm income eventually improves.
“When corn and beans finally move higher and stay there, we’re going to see exactly what we saw in 2021,” Peterson says. “Farmers are going to want to update, and dealers are going to say, ‘I can only sell you eight — that’s all we get.’”
Until then, he says the auction market continues to speak clearly.
Will Trump Roll Back DEF?
During a roundtable at the White House last week when the Trump administration rolled out $12 billion in farmer aid, President Trump also revealed other actions the Trump administration is working on to reduce regulations. Trump told farmers Monday his administration plans to scale back environmental requirements on tractors and other farm equipment, framing the move as a way to bring down machinery costs that have climbed in recent years.“The other thing I’d like to add … we’re going to also give the tractor companies, John Deere and all of the companies that make the equipment, we’re going to take off a lot of the environmental restrictions that they have on machinery,” Trump said. “It’s ridiculous.”
While Trump didn’t provide specifics on how the details of that plan will come together, Trump said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin would be involved in carrying out the effort. There’s speculation on if that will be removing diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) requirements on tractors or also addressing the long-standing right-to-repair issue.
Farm Journal reached out to EPA, and the agency confirmed it was DEF to which the president was referring.
“EPA has heard loud and clear from truckers and farmers across the United States that the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) system was unacceptable and cost millions of dollars in lost productivity,” Brigit Hirsch, EPA press secretary, told Farm Journal. “This summer, Administrator Zeldin issued clear guidance urging engine and equipment manufacturers to revise DEF system software in existing vehicles and equipment to prevent sudden shutdowns. It is essential manufacturers give operators more time to repair faults without impacting their livelihoods or safety. EPA will continue to evaluate ways to expand the work the agency has already done on DEF and looks forward to working across the administration to do so.”
Trump argued added systems meant to meet environmental rules have driven up price tags and made equipment harder to operate and repair.
“You buy it, it’s got so much equipment on it for the environmental, it doesn’t do anything except it makes the equipment much more expensive and much more complicated to work,” he said, adding, “it’s not as good as the old days.”
Trump said the administration’s goal is to remove what he called “nonsense” and require manufacturers to pass savings along to farmers.
