Okay, so I bought a used truck from Crete Carrier.

I hired on with Crete Carrier in early July, 2008 and drove a company truck for 2 years. On July 23, 2010 I signed on the dotted line, wrote a couple of checks, and bought a 2006 Freightliner Century S/T with Tri-Pac APU through Crete's used equipment sales program.

I hired on with Crete in part because of evertruckerr's excellent thread (now about 2.5 years old and still active) - Crete - A Year in Review. I bought my truck after extensive consultation with jdrentzjr, who is a regular participant here. I have met him in person a few times, and we talk on the phone regularly. I have picked his brain and pestered him with more questions than anyone should ever have to answer in one lifetime, and now consider him a good friend. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly for all his help and advice - thanks, JD.

I'll be posting the information from the summary page of the Profit/Loss statement I get every month from my accountant - this is what JD has been doing in his thread, My numbers as an O/O leased to Crete.

First, the background info (application process, etc):

I had some savings, maybe enough to live a month or two on, that wasn't tied up in retirement investments. I had 2 weeks of vacation time coming to me in early July. I had a STRONG desire to own my own truck. I had a wife who was scared to death of the risk inherent in any entrepreneurial venture.

So, I made a spreadsheet. I took 2 months worth of pay stubs and load notes, figured up the miles for each trip, applied the "Option 1" pay scale (this is the one that pays 67cpm deadhead, and loaded miles varies from $0.86 to $1.45 per mile depending on length of haul, plus FSC). I used jdrentzjr's numbers for net fuel cost per mile, added some for contingency, figured $0.10/mile for maintenance, used the info I got from Crete to find out fixed costs such as truck payment, insurance, Qualcomm rental, etc. etc. and figured out what I would have netted as an O/O versus what I actually made as a company driver. It came out to about a $0.03/mile raise after buying health insurance, plus building ownership equity in the truck itself. After much prodding, I finally convinced my wife to promise that my purchasing a truck wouldn't immediately result in a divorce

In June, I called the guy who runs Crete's used equipment sales (his first name is Lyle), and had him email me the standard info packet and a credit application. I made sure to ask if I could go ahead and fill out the app, but wait until July (after my anniversary date, so I'd have more vacation time to cash in) before completing the deal. He said that was fine. I made sure to be very explicit in that I was only interested in buying a truck with an APU, preferably the Tri-Pac as opposed to the Carrier (Crete uses both, and the Tri-Pac has more air conditioning BTU's as well as being quieter).

The credit app was pretty standard - list all major assets, list all debt liabilities, and list home address and place of employment. Lyle later told me my credit app was one of the most thoroughly-completed he'd ever seen, and that he usually had to go back to applicants for info they left off the app.

2 weeks later, I found out I was approved - YAY!

Lyle asked me if I wanted a red truck (Crete color) or a blue truck (Shaffer color). My reply was: "Which one makes more money, has fewer miles, a better maintenance record, and a Tri-Pac?" I think he got my point

I went home for a couple of days in late June, opened a separate checking account at my local credit union for the trucking business, and got mentally ready.

So now, all I have to do is wait until my anniversary date rolls around and that vacation money comes in. I called payroll and told them I wanted to cash in my vacation time as soon as I could, but didn't want to take time off for it - just give me the money *grin* It showed up in my direct deposit on July 15. As soon as it did, I started pestering dispatch to get me to Lincoln ASAP to buy my truck. I finally arrived on the evening of July 22, with an appointment to meet Lyle in the office building the following morning. I called Lyle on my way there and found out what number had been assigned to my truck, and made sure the shop had prepped it and applied the numbering. When I arrived, I inspected the vehicle top to bottom. It had new tires all the way around, as promised (recaps on the drives). It also had what appeared to be a new air compressor governor, charge air cooler, steer axle brakes, radiator, hoses, belts, and I could tell the hood had been replaced (I later found the old hood - it had a stress crack between the grille opening and headlight bucket opening). The truck had 453,000 miles on the odometer.

After a test drive that morning, I spent all day on the 23rd (Friday) signing paperwork, writing checks, and calling the IRS for an Employer ID number. All was finally done by about 4pm. Then I got to move all my stuff, detail my old company truck so as to not be charged a cleaning fee, get settled in, and bug dispatch for a load so I could get to making money. I spent all day Saturday doing that (I *HATE* changing trucks!!!).

I've been doing the O/O thing with Crete ever since, and am happy with the results.

Oh, sidebar - In late August, my transmission started making a grinding sound going from high range to low range. Synch on the range selector was going out. I T-called a load at the Marietta, GA terminal on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, bobtailed home, got there just after the shop at the Freightliner dealer in Ringgold closed, finally got the truck in the shop on Tuesday after Labor Day. I figured it'd be a warranty repair, as it's still covered until March or so. They finally got it apart on Thursday, and late that afternoon I found out that Meritor said "driver abuse, not covered". So Friday morning I called Lincoln to drain my maintenance escrow. I was also going to be wiping out part of my savings to pay the bill. When I called Lincoln, I was put through to Lyle and asked to tell him what was going on. I did, and he told me to keep my phone at my side, that he'd call me back shortly. He did. After being transferred to someone higher-up in Acklie Maintenance and asked to repeat my issue, I finally was told that Crete was paying to air-freight the parts in (for Monday arrival, as opposed to Tuesday which is what Freightliner had said). Further, I was told, when the truck is done, get the bill in hand and call the foreman of the tractor shop in Lincoln so arrangements can be made for Crete to pay the bill on their account.

That's right. Crete sold me a used truck. The only warranty was the factory warranty. The repair was not covered by said factory warranty. The bill was close to $3,000. Crete paid it. I have friends who are lawyers - they say there's not a court in the land that would have made Crete pay for that repair if I'd tried to sue them over it. They weren't legally liable. But they paid for it anyway. Can I put a price on loyalty? Yup - $2,916.57 buys quite a bit of it.

My next 3 posts to this thread will be the cover page summary info from my August, September, and October statements from my CPA. I do pay attention to my gross, and to my various costs, but what matters when all is said and done is net profit. That's part of the info on that cover page, so here goes. I know some folks will think I'm lying and inflating my numbers to look good, others will think I'm getting the shaft. That's okay, I'm happy and making the kind of money I need to make - aren't those the two things that really matter?

 

In August, I bought a bunch of stuff - lumber, a few tools, a microwave oven, plastic storage tubs to take advantage of the cavernous storage space in a Century condo. I also forgot to send my CPA a copy of my tractor sales invoice and loan paperwork so they could track my depreciation and interest expense - oops! I sent it right after getting this statement. My payments started in early September, though, so it was all kosher. With the lumber I built a shelf on the top bunk of my truck for my microwave oven and some food storage, as well as to hold my guitar and amplifier

 

In September, I was off the road with transmission ills for 11 days (that's the repair on which Crete paid the bill). I made a net profit of $4469 in 19 days on the road.

Oh, going back to the August statement - I had to replace a clamp on the EGR connector, as well as the O-ring between the turbocharger and the duct going to the charge air cooler. This was done at a Freightliner dealer in Cleveland, OH. Small stuff as things go, but still over $300. The rest of my maintenance costs have been preventative - oil change (with sample analysis, which came back just fine), chassis lube, that sort of thing.

 

I had no work done on the truck in October - my oil change was done in late September, and I went home on October 28 - the following Monday (November 1) was when I had the chassis lube and APU service done, as well as getting a new air dryer, air compressor governor valve, and APU fuel pump put on.

It was at the end of October when I found out that the towing and recovery company my brother in law works for also has a small heavy-truck shop just down the street from their lot where I drop my trailer when I go home. I've known the guy 17 years, he's worked for the same place all that time, and I just found out they have a truck shop. D'oh!

Anyway, I got a good price on the labor for all that, as well as not being charged for the air compressor governor valve. They also gave me 2 gallons of antifreeze, no charge because I'm family *grin* (I have a tiny leak, and finally found the source - next time I go home my reservoir tank is coming off and getting an application of fiberglass matting and model airplane epoxy resin on the bottom, where there is an itty bitty crack in the plastic).

For the month of October, I made a net profit of $6393, or $0.616 per mile.

That will drop quite a bit for November, as I did spend about $780 having all that work done (ever price a fuel pump for a Tri-Pac?? I hope it's made out of gold or something). I also spent the first full week of November at home, with a nice upper respiratory infection and bronchitis. So now I'm playing catch-up for a week or so.

Have you noticed that my net fuel cost has been dropping every month? I finally got out of that company-driver habit of driving the truck as fast as it will go all the time! My truck was sold to me with the governor set at 65mph. I haven't bothered having it turned up (yet). I have finally gotten to where I drive at 60-63mph most of the time, so there's really not much point in opening up the governor. I do have the ECM password, so I can turn it up if I want, but I just don't have the need to go fast now that I'm buying the fuel. Funny how that works, isn't it?

 

Oh, quick numbers in case anyone is interested:

Truck purchase price: $36,700
Down payment: $500 (this is because I have very good credit and a solid financial position - i.e. my house is paid for).
Monthly payment: $1180.60
Number of payments: 34
Interest rate: 8%

 

Oh, notice the low miles per day, but the high CPM net - this is from a lot of shorter runs, which pay more per mile. If I were a company driver, I'd be making a LOT of noise about low miles. But, with the sliding pay scale for Crete O/O's, I can make the same (or better) money and not work as much. Since I became a truck driver because I'm too lazy to work, too proud to beg, and too honest to steal, more money for less work is right up my alley