A 2005 DOT truck for sale on GovDeals.com.
The Iowa DOT has canceled its fall in-person equipment and vehicle auction.
Spokesman David Bollenbaugh says they just don’t have enough vehicles available. “We still can’t get trucks, like personal trucks, big trucks. It’s just slow coming in with inventory stuff. I think it’s still trying to play catch up from COVID. So we’re not turning in as many trucks if we can’t have a new one,” Bollenbaugh says. He says they continue maintaining the trucks they have until they can get a replacement.
Bollenbaugh says when they do get new trucks — it’s not very many. “They just trickle in, onesie twosies come in, and then, of course, we’ll rotate the old ones out and those new ones will get on the road. I would expect that the economy would turn around and then we could get some stuff coming in,” he says. He says the amount of time they normally keep trucks can vary — with the larger ones usually around for ten years before they are rotated out.
Bollengaugh says they will continue selling the vehicles they are rotating out online. He says they will have several smaller trucks, a passenger van, and some larger trucks for sale online — and the mileage will be more than what you would normally see in a sale. “Just because we had to keep them a little longer –they’re a little higher. Anywhere from 130 to 180 (thousand miles). Maybe some of them might have a few more, but that’s about average,” he says.
Bollenbaugh says they hope to have another in-person auction in the spring where they will have inventory from the DOT and others. “Yeah, we’re still pushing for spring. Of course, you know, we work with Iowa State and then any of our counties that want to bring us stuff,” Bollengbaugh says, “and I know that I’ve talked to a few counties that have some things that they’re willing to hold them till spring. And Iowa State was willing to work with us a little bit and hold till spring. I mean, they said they were kinda in the same boat.”
He says they will keep trying to sell the items online until then. “If something doesn’t catch a bid, we normally we’ll run it again, just because we want to have as much out there as we can. So we’ll run them in 10-day increments. And then if they don’t catch a bid, we’ll try to run them again. Because you know, maybe that guy didn’t look on that 10 days or whatnot. And somebody will want that,” Bollenbaugh says. “After that, we’ll just pull it off and either save it for a live auction where somebody can come up and kick the tires and hears it run. And maybe that’s a little bit better audience. But, I mean, really, unless it’s a complete basket case, we will keep it around and try to sell it later in the year.”
Bollenbaugh says they have been doing some remodeling and will also have some office furniture available online. You can go to GovDeals.com to see the items the Iowa DOT has for sale.