Will be getting my L/P truck next week, a '04 Cat powered KW. It has been a great truck in our fleet, and the only reason the current driver is coming out of it, is because he's getting a new truck. It will be getting a major going over from tires to motor before I get into it, and then the owner wants me to drive it for a while to make sure it is the truck I want.

Our carrier is getting us great miles, despite the slow down. Payments will be around $400 a week, I will be using the owners fuel card so I can get the same discounts he gets, if I use the carriers fuel card, it will cost me $40 each time the card is loaded. With the great miles, payments I can handle, a great accountant, and business advisor, I should do okay.

 

Good luck Bro.........

 

Do you own the truck in the end?
400 a week for a payment is too much money. That's 1733.00 a month.
Just for the heck of it I looked at an 05 Kenworth W900 for 39,900. That payment would be 972.00 (roughly) a month.
Why not buy your own truck and lease on to this company?

 

I wouldn't want a w/9 or 379 Pete, I drove both as a company driver, and both use too much fuel for me. My best fuel day with either one, didn't even come close to my worst fuel day with the Century I drive now.

The monthly payment is all my fixed costs combined, yes there are some newer trucks that seem to cost less. But with this one, I have all the historical data concerning fuel costs, all the maintenance that was performed and why. With your W/9 you may not have access to that same data.

But even with all that, something bad can happen, and I could be out of business in no time.

 

40.00 to load a fuel card is obscene. I though my last company I was leased to at 6.00 per load was bad....

 

Why would you be out of buisness if something went wrong?

Obviously just starting out you will have plenty of cash already saved up.

I know you wouldn't be dumb enough to start out with a bunch of debt and not have plenty of cash for any unforseen expenses in the first six months right?

It's still a buisness, just because people are more than willing to lure you into it with a "seems to good to be true" pitch doesn't mean you don't need to follow good buisness practices.

 

I agree, we have a guy who leased on a month ago, last weekend, he had to have new wheel bearings and spindles, cost was 2500 bucks, he had to borrow it from the company, great way to start out!!

 

No Comment...

 

:hellno:

 

Hi Gman, I think you know what I am thinking. He is paying way to much for that truck, I think we all know that. And God only knows what other little hidden fees this company has in store. Forty dollars to load a fuel card? Now that is just wrong on so many levels. If it were me, I would run from this deal, and run and run...