what year trucks do yall run

Yeah, I know a tanker up in canada that pays $35,000/year in insurance.

That's a huge bit of sticker shock until you realize he's making an extra 20% per load by having his own plates, authority, truck, trailer, and insurance over the drivers in the same oilfield having their companies cover most of those costs.

 

2004 Western Star Lowmax C15 with a 13spd. I got the truck for $35,000 with 650k on the ODO and i went with their lease/purchase option so i can write off all my payments.

My previous truck was a 99 FLD120 that had been paid for the last 5 years. The only reason i got rid of it was because I got "hood fever" and I was tired of paying $12,000-$16,000 at tax time each year. But I didn't go crazy with a $140,000 new truck. So keep it simple and make sure if it does not work out, you sell the truck and get yourself out of the situation with $0 obligation.

 

i drive an 05 w900 with an isx 450. only breakdown i've had is the electric fuel pump. but it didn't stop the truck from running. gave a very erratic idle under half tanks. and sometimes it wanted to fall flat on the hills. but she trucked for 3 weeks before being replaced.

anyone know where the egr is on this thing. and can maybe post a pic. cuz i'm not seeing it. and the ecm report makes no mention of one being there. should have asked while i was there. but naturally, it wasn't on my mind.

 

That is because you have the wrong idea about taxes. Why spend a $1 to save $.20 in taxes? I would have stashed the extra cash in a health savings account or an individual 401k (like I do now) and kept Uncle's hands off of it. It would still be mine.

 

My truck payment is $1,200 a month and this year I will owe $0 with my truck payments and buying my flatbed equipment.

 

Fullforce be carefull of older low mileage trucks. Always get the miles from the ECM do not believe the speedometer. You can change a ECM but that is not as likely as speedometer.

 

You need to get out more often. There is a sprinkling of truth regarding your comments about carriers that want newer equipment, but that doesn't mean they are tightwads that don't pay anything. And I have found that, while there may be a generic policy regarding truck age, many are flexible if they see a really well cared for truck. You should know, that a lot of owners really don't care for their truck as well as they should. The carriers that want trucks of a certain age know that as well. They figure that the risk of breakdowns and such on newer equipment is less so they don't have to deal with late loads and repowering loads all the time. And truth be told, the age requirement usually only is to get the truck on. After that, as long as the truck meets all the standards and is well taken care of, the age doesn't matter.

The carrier I am with, has a generic truck age policy for new lease on O/O. But I have seen them waive that policy for a really well cared for truck. We have a real good customer base and quality service is how we get some of the better rates and a lot of the loads. That means, the O/O's better have reliable equipment. As for them not paying enough? My 1099 for 2011 shows over $190,000 and I was home every weekend and all holidays and took two weeks off for the year. My net is large enough that I decided to hide cash in both health savings account and individual 401k to keep the taxes down.

These generic comments about carriers really don't mean much. The overall package, the customer base, and a host of other things need to be looked at. I am always amazed at how these comments about carriers always ripping people off are tossed out as fact. Sure, there are bad carriers. But anyone who has been at this game for any real length of time, has a general idea of who those carriers are. And those so-called "flat rates" of compensation you mention, don't take into account a lot of stuff. Like getting 30-40 cents off the cash pump price for fuel, having a well structured fuel surcharge on top of that, having your base plates reimbursed, getting substantial discounts on your truck insurance needs, little if any charges for stuff like qualcomm, etc. When you factor out what the lease on owner is NOT having to pay for, that flat rate might not be so bad. The cost per mile to operate is substantially lower. So even a lower revenue doesn't mean a lower net profit.