Why More San Diego Businesses Are Leasing Trailers Instead of Buying in 2026

The trailer rental and leasing market was valued at roughly $28.4 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $51.34 billion by 2035, a 6.80% compound annual growth rate. That's a fast-growing market for something as unglamorous as a dry van trailer, and the reasons behind it track closely with what we're hearing from our own clients.

Ownership carries more risk than it used to

The EPA's Phase 3 greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles are pushing fleet operators toward newer, more efficient equipment rather than holding onto aging owned assets. Combine that with California's own shifting rules (see our post on CARB's Advanced Clean Fleets regulation), and owning equipment outright increasingly means betting on standards that could change before that asset is paid off. Leasing shifts that risk off your balance sheet.

Flexibility has become the actual product

Across the industry, the biggest shift isn't in the trailers themselves, it's in how they're offered. Providers are moving toward more flexible leasing structures, subscription-style arrangements, and on-demand booking rather than the rigid, multi-year contracts that used to define the space. E-commerce fulfillment networks in particular are leaning harder on outsourced trailer capacity to handle peak-season volatility instead of owning enough equipment to cover their busiest month of the year and sitting on excess capacity the rest of the time.

What it looks like locally

This national trend lines up almost exactly with what's happening in San Diego's industrial real estate market right now: tighter functional space for small and mid-size operators is pushing more businesses toward flexible, on-site solutions instead of expanding their real estate footprint. A leased trailer gives you that flexibility twice over, no long-term real estate commitment, and no long-term equipment commitment.

If your business has been putting off a decision between buying equipment and finding more warehouse space, it might be worth asking whether you need either, or just a trailer on your existing lot.