I am an owner operator eho currently is not able to work do to my truck being down for repairs. I contract my work out to an oil company and I deliver gasoline locally. Well back in July my truck broke down and the repairs were over 3K and I am able to pay this back to my company through installments.

Well a few weeks after I got my truck back on the road it broke down again. Now the diagnostic is stating that I need a crank. The mechanic told me a new one with labor was 9K and 2500 off of this for a used one. I am really up a creek because I cannot afford this at the moment.

Here are my options:

1. Fix the truck and drive company until I can afford to get it back on the road while still making my monthly finance payment for the truck.

2.Disregard my credit be late a few months and drive for another owner-

3. Try and sell the truck "as is" getting a little for it but not the entire loan. I still owe 12K the truck 1999 International Day cab that I purchased for 24K a year ago.

All advice is greatly appreciated!!!
operator.

 

I'm going to be harsh....

If you haven't budgeted for a 7k-10k repair, you shouldn't be in business.

Sell the truck, and be a company driver.

 

Dont do option 2 you will really be screwed.

can you borrow the money to fix the truck??

tootie

 

This EXACTLY the reason why I opted to stay a company driver for now. I have gotten luckly in buying vehicles a few times... but most of the time I got a POS someone pawned off on me. Salesmen will stab their mother in the heart if they think theres a buck in it (I rank salesman right up there with lawyer... I think they all should burn in hell :wink: ) ... buying ANY used vehicle scares me... let alone one that is my only source of income.

Sorry I dont have any advice for you rah1803... I wish I did.

 

If it is going to cost $9M to replace the crank, you would be much better off having the engine rebuilt while you have it down. Unless you have additional collateral, you probably won't be able to borrow that much on a 1999 International day cab. You might be better off to cut your loses and try to sell it. Even if you are able to borrow enough to rebuild the engine, you still owe on the other repairs. If you borrow to rebuild the engine or repair the crank, you will have three payments. My question would be whether the income you would generate from the truck would enable you to make all the payments and still have a decent income. You probably have a truck payment, repair payment and then engine repair payment. Sometimes it is easier to cut your losses and drive a company truck.

I have had 3 former owner operators who have worked for me the last 3 or 4 years who lost their trucks due to a major breakdown. They didn't have the money to pay the truck out of the shop. They lost their equipment and ruined their credit. All three told me that they made more money driving my truck than they did their own. Unless you either have the cash to make a major repair or credit where you can borrow the money, you are better off driving a company truck.

 

Thanks so much for all of your advice. I am preparing to drive for another owner-operator in order to pay the truck loan off and keep a steady income coming in. My wife told me about this site and I am so glad she did she is the best.

GMAN-Thanks for your advice. I greatly appreciate it. Do you think it is best to me to sell it by parts or try to repair it and sell it? It will be sitting until I pay it off in another year.

 

You could probably get more for the truck by selling off the parts. If you repair the truck you will likely not get all of your money out of it, but it is usually easier to sell something when the buyer doesn't need to start spending money to get it rolling. Unfortunately, you will probably lose money no matter which way you go. If I were going to sell it I would probably just try to sell it "as is." But that is just me. I don't have much time to mess with trying to part a truck out. Once you start selling parts off the truck will very quickly be worth much less than before parts were sold. On the other hand, if that is what you want to do and you have the time you would probably stand a better chance of getting more money out of it. The thing is that if you are going to drive a truck for someone, you may not have much time to spend trying to sell parts.