It looks like you posted this back in September, wish I had been around then, what did you end up doing or are you still looking? We don't sell trucks - thought we list some that have come back to us - but we know financing and truck programs. If you haven't gotten one yet and still have questions give me a shout out.

 

I guess that's a good plan. About 2 years ago I also planned to buy a used cheap truck but eventually I got a salvage one (Piterbilt) at carfrom.us, it was even cheaper even though I had to do some repairs of course. but it still turned out to be much cheaper than buying a new or even used truck. And yeah, I think you should have a mechanic checked it out and then decide whether you want to buy it or not.

 

Milage is the one thing scaring me away from the truck I now drive. I guess my boss may retire in a couple of years, so I could get the truck cheap. It's a 2000 T-2000 with 970,000 on it now. It has just a little blow-by, but it's in good condition. 2 years from now it will be 14 years old with a lot of miles. Even so, if I get it cheap enough, I will have money for a new or rebuilt motor.

 

I know this is an older thread but this is my advice to anyone that is looking into buying a truck or multiple trucks.

First never say never on a truck model for your first truck. Buy the most reliable truck you can get that is the best deal. I do not like freightliners either but we have 3. They are decent dependable trucks and make just as much money as that fancy Pete with less operating costs. You can always upgrade later once you have an established business with a good amount of money saved up (enough money for a down payment, at least 3 months payment, and enough for a major repair of the truck you already have). We started out with one freightliner Columbia and are up to 9 trucks fixing to be ten. We bought all used trucks until the last 3 which are Volvo 670's and 780's. I have 1 western star, 1 Columbia, 1 Century, 1 Coronado, 1 international, 1 KW 660, 2 670's and 1 fixing to be 2 780's. All because of smart truck buying. I like Volvos they are dependable, ride great, safe, excellent fuel mileage and come with a good warranty. We worked up to that at a steady pace.

Second if you finance shop around for financing. Try to do bank financing we are getting a 5.5% rate right now Volvo finances rate would cost us over $200.00 a month extra with their rate.

Third you will not make it in any business starting up thinking you will only work Monday through Friday and that is it. It won't happen and if it does you are not making enough to build your savings you need. You are also going to be paying for someone to repair your truck. I have one day dedicated solely to truck maintanence. Then you have one day to pay the bills or whatnot. Then the other 5 to drive seeming that you only want to drive 5 days a week. This is trucking nothing is steady. There are curveballs thrown everyday. You might not arrive in time to get the next available load and have to wait till the next day. You can have maintanence issues on the road you could have bad weather that slows you down the shipper or receiver could have issues that they can't load or unload your truck. Always expect the unexpected.

Look at how many minimal miles you need a week to survive. You are not going to get 2500-3100 miles a week every week just working 5 days a week. Don't set days off on the road set miles that need to be made then go home. Owning your own business is not easy if it was everyone would do it. It takes hard work and dedication.

Do your research on companies out there to lease to. Recruiters are sales people they are paid to get drivers or owner ops. They will lie to you about average pay and average miles.

I do have more things but this post is already getting too long so I will leave it for another day.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I'm putting off buying a truck for a while. I was teaming with a lease driver but .. they are screwing him hard to get him out of the truck and i can only suffer for him for so long. There is a produce company hiring here that should get me home 3-5 days a week and on salary (ya i know). Owner seems like a great guy so ill give it a shot. That or foodservice or bedbugging. I want to stay in shape.

Steve Youre absolutely right on trucks and financing.
If you cant make a profit in trucking working 5 days a week your business plan is screwed and you need to find another business. full stop. I could go through a long list of why thhat is true but frankly simply put most trucking companies are too lazy/incompetant to get their drivers home more. Heck there are deliveries for every company ive worked for in my hometown. My codriver worked for a good company that had 2 regular deliveries 15 miles from his house... they never gave it to him. Incompetant morons. He could have been home a LOT.

If you arent calculating maintenance into your permile you're a fool.
If you cant run 2500-3k a week sitting on your thumbs somethigns wrong. I used to run 3200 a week between sunday evening and thursday at 4am and spend 12 hours home on tuesday. The company i just left(may go back solo) has a run they can make dedicated that starts you monday morning/afternoon, gets you home 3 times a week for 10-16 hours and youre done saturday am. This "You have to livei n a truck for months and never get miles and sit in east bum**** all weekend" is bull****.

I appreciate your advice a lot but it sounds like yorue trying to con some newbie into living in your truck and workign for pocket change which seems to be the norm these days.

 

Yep you hit the nail on the head. You obviously don't know jack about me or owning a truck. My drivers make $60,000+ a year. My drivers usually only work from Monday night to Saturday morning or Tuesday morning to Saturday night. I don't hire newbies either and I only lost one driver last year that begged me to come back. I didnt let him come back because he quit without a notice.

Some weeks click and some weeks don't. That's just the way it is. I can't guarantee my drivers 6,000 miles a week. I can tell them that they will average around 5,000 miles a week for the year. Some weeks more and some weeks less. That's just the way it is. Even the dedicated we have get cut every once in awhile.

Obviously I do know what I am talking about since we started with one truck and are up to nine. Oh sorry I just bought two more so I will be at 11 when I get the other two in. I just think its funny someone who doesn't own one truck tries to tell someone who went from one truck to nine trucks (fixing to be eleven) and one other employee (we run teams) to eighteen full time employees fixing to be twenty two. You just keep on reading there buddy the truth will hit you sooner or later.

 

Most Freightshakers get that name based on typical fleet specs. When one does due diligence in spec'ing out any truck, even FL, then FL's do not live up to the reputation of being a rattle trap. On mine, I ordered premium noise abatement and premium artic insulation packages. Along with the custom Signature interior, it is a very solid truck that is nice an quiet and a comfort to drive. Now finding a used one that way is indeed a challenge.

 

Steve3662 i just saw this and i didnt meant to be that insulting. Honestly it's just the bull*** on these boards by negative truckstop cowboys and losers who want people to live in a truck for them free that actually makes me physically angry. As your post pointed out you actually get your drivers home.

WTFTRucks.com im sure id be interested in talking to you a bit in the future. Working for my buddy was a huge mistake. I was going to save the money up for a sizeable down payment on a truck but the last month the money went poof for both of us. (The company's l/p isnt great but mostly it was him)

Copperhead thats the problem the office hacks order company trucks and could give a **** about driver comfort. I have permanent hearing damage from trucking. My buddy drove a new prem freighliner (he leased at lease + .20 a mile for 2 weeks...........) and he said it was as sweet as a peterbilt.

GMAN i think im going to try a l/p (i know i know).. for the freedom not the money. I like knowing i can say "hell no im not driving paper from sc to nyc for .92 a mile" or "screw this im going home" even if it will cost me a small fortune. Im thinking crst landair or dart. If i make 700 a week (after taxes), choose what i do and get home i'm good. Now to be smart enough to choose the company that is the right fit this time (note: never worked for a company i didnt like and who didnt like me to be honest)

 

You may not even make $500/week if you do a lease purchase. You won't be able to take time off due to the high payments. If you take off a week, then you will need to make twice as much the first week just to break even. You could have times when there would not be a paycheck at all due to the high overhead and low miles.

 

I understand the times with no paychecks. And i cant sit home a whole week so it's not that. But if i'm in SC friday in the am and burnt out ... i want the choice of losing the money from that day + the fuel and going home. I've seen the boom and bust driving with my buddy. We had $1200 paydays and we had negative paydays. I'm thinking seriously about what you said though. Your advice to buy a truck whatever it takes makes a lot of sense to me and im going to check with a buddy about what i could get for my car. the advantage of lease, especially crst, is i learn more about how to run my truck and i can hopefully save some money. One thing ive noticed is that all of these lease companies make sure you bring in the money at first. I'll check with my buddy tonight.