Buy New Or Used????
Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by truckingmonster702, Jan 29, 2015.
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Unless you're a millionaire I'd start out as cheap as possible. Depreciation on a new truck is ridiculous and it won't generate any more revenue than a good used truck. You will probably have some bugs to work out in a used truck and you will have higher maintenance costs BUT not so much that on a month to month basis a used truck isn't a better choice financially.
Another consideration is if you just HAD to get rid of the truck for any reason. Much easier to get rid of a solid used truck and not lose your shirt. Been there with a new one.
My personal opinion would be to get a used Freightliner with a Detroit and go from there. In a few years after you're rolling in the dough like all us O/O you can buy a brand new shiny one!Malta Thanks this. -
Buy a Kenworth! LOL I've done both used and new trucks. You have to balance mileage, age and condition against the new truck. Say the lifespan of a "new truck" is 1 million miles, it has to be discounted at least enough to match the percentage of the new purchase price.
Also you need to calculate the remaining service life of the truck. If you want to lease to a company how old of units will they except? Do you have the resources or can you accumulate the resources for a $25K repair bill before the engine goes.
Buying used is like buying anything used, maybe it is and maybe it isn't a good deal. Take the truck to a 3rd party and have them check it out for you even if it costs a few bucks. They can't always see problems but they can tell the obvious issues.
Also look to resale values. What will it be worth when you want to get rid of it.
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Do some research on egr, dpf, SCR emissions systems. There is a ton of info on this site to reference. There are some particular years and engines / trucks to avoid .
Adam -
Over the next 5 years/500,000 miles, my 1,500,000 mile 2001 International should cost ~15cpm to maintain, and 45cpm to fuel. Over 5 years, I'd estimate a brand new tractor would cost 7cpm to maintain, 43cpm to fuel, and 15cpm to finance (after subtracting residual value)
60cpm used vs 65cpm new...
Worse, new trucks tend to spend more unplanned time in shops (and stay for longer). Sure, my old truck had lots of little nickle & dime repairs, but it only spent 3 unplanned days in the shop in 2014 (for an A/C compressor so it was done between loads). A new truck probably would probably average 10 unplanned days in the shop. -
when you finance a used 500k truck for 5 years there is a chance youll need a rebuild before you pay it off. my has almost 900k on it and in the last 3 month I put 10k worth of repairs in it and that's not a rebuild. and I did some of it my self. And old is old you patch it in one spot and it brakes in other next week. and lately replacement parts don't last very long. after mid 2000s the quality of parts went down the sh#$%^ers
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Id probaby look for a classic xl or century class or a columbia
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