I have a $10000 truck myself that cost me over $25,000 in repairs last year. Instead of laughing I wanna cry.

 

I've been contemplating O/O for a while my biggest holdup is I want hometime. I'm not doing anything till my wife gets off the truck to start our family. I live in NE Ohio and I'm starting to think maybe dump is the way for me to go.

 

If you want home time, join Landstar like I did in the summer of 2010. I"m not making money but I call the shots and I'm home all the time

 

I wanna make money and still make money!

 

then you'd have to divorce the wife and live on the road

 

Didn't u spend like 4 months out? Plus Landstar won't lease him, he has no otr experience

 

I have 1.5 yrs otr and we stay out 5 days and run coast to coast we've been here 2.75 yrs.

 

Thank you so much for posting that. I'm so very tempted to start with an el cheapo high mileage truck but there's a voice in my head telling me I wouldn't know how to pick out a good one and not get burned.

I know the sage advice from GMan and others is the $10k special, but man I'd be broke down on the side of the road again and again wondering how I could be so stupid as to think I could pick out a diamond in the rough when the guys that DO know what they're doing have passed it by.

 

You find a decent cheap truck by looking. Looking again and again. You take vin numbers to your favorite shop and have them run. You call companies that owned the trucks and ask them questions. It takes a lot of time, but it can be time well spent.

 

I run a car hauler (truck and trailer). Have had no major repairs just a bunch of normal wear items. Looking at VINs is a great idea to check the history of the truck which I did not do. I bought this truck in March 2010 on the agreement that Coopersburg Kenworth in PA make the truck pass DOT and PA inspection prior to purchase.Since then I have had to replace 4 batteries, starter, alternator, exhaust from the turbo back, new ECM, replaced all fuel lines, replaced ac compressor,condensor and a couple switches,2 new drive axle wheel seals, new brakes on tractor,two brake chambers, welding on the headrack, more welding on the headrack, replaced the PTO and pump for the hydraulics, replaced numerous hydraulic line that ruptured, more welding on the headrack, and thats just the tractor not counting new steer tires with wheel bearings and an alignment and several new drives. Throw in PM's every 15k and having a truck payment on a new truck doesn't seem like a bad idea. I just paid another $1834.74 today for welding on the trailer and a brake chamber replaced two weeks ago and on Monday I'll be dropping off the truck for new trailer brakes. The shop that does the work for me the past six months only charges $70/hr labor and does great work but they won't treat your truck as a priority because they run 75 of their own trucks.
Sound like I'm whining about paying a bunch of money to run a cheap truck but in reality I'm just trying to pass along my experience. I have had two brand new truck and trailers 2001 freightliner and 2006 Sterling each with $3300 plus monthly payments. Now no payments and very little stress! You'll probably make more money with the cheap truck but you will have lots of downtime which is hard to overcome unless you can get good rates. I have been lucky to get two very good loyal customers of my own and work with 2-3 carriers/brokers to get loads to fill gaps.