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

His comment was correct and to the point. This driver has been paying on a used truck for about 3yrs now and still does not own it. And once he makes his last payment in 6mos the truck will be worth about $15,000...... and Crete has pocketed well over $40k in intrest, and not to mention the truck was paid for long ago by company drivers.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad he is happy, that's the main point here. But I sure hope he has improved his credit rating so he can at least get a better truck next time, and hopefully one that will hold some value.

 

Not sure which one of us you are refering to. RB has only had his used truck for about 6 or 7 months and financed a $35,000 +/- note through Union Bank (a subsidiary of Acklie Companies, who also owns Crete). I would guess he still owes about $30,000+/- on the note. His truck's value, based on current Truck Paper values, is about what he owes on the note. Tell me what L/P program can do that?

On the other hand, I'm the one that still has 6 payments left on a truck I bought new through U.S. Motor Company ( another Acklie subsidiary ) in August '06. The sell price on the truck was $88,500. The same truck from a dealer would have cost $105,000 +/-. Over the life of the loan (which is not financed through Union Bank) I will have paid close to $9,000 in intrest. Add intrest to the down payment of $2,250 and I still payed far less than if I had bought from a dealer with financing. The remaining amount on my note is just under $10,000 and my truck's value is $25,000+/-. Tell me what L/P program can do that?

You will get no argument from me, or anyone else that you can make more $$$ on a percentage basis and run fewer miles doing it. The trick is to live in a good freight lane and have a good customer base or have good brokers who do. However, it's not just about what you gross. It's about how much you NET.

And as far as I can tell, RB and myself are the only ones to have maintained a thread that gives the entire world our ACTUAL NUMBERS. Not getting rich, but neither are company drivers. And when the economy took a dump and many indepenents went out of business, I was still making a profit.

Now that you've got some clarification, maybe you won't feel the need to be a BETTER THAN YOU smarta$$.

Make no mistake, I would love to average $2.75p/m loaded/empty. Are you willing to share your source(s)? Didn't think so. And I don't blame you.

 

Sure, I run a dedicated lane form Chicago to Seadrift, TX and back fpr DOW Chemicals. I run loaded at 4,500lbs down and empty back. I make $3,500 per turn plus FSC which is at .60cpm right now. My FSC pays more than my actual fuel useage each week. I leave Monday at 9am and am back home Thursday at about noon..... nothing secret about it. the point is to work smarter and not harder.

I wasn't trying to be a smarta$$, I don't have the time to read thru 15 pages of you both talking about running X miles for under a buck. The point was that there is better ways to make money and be home more often. What got to me was the person's comment I quoted in my post. he was correct about the L/P program you guys are on... you bought a new truck and financed thru a different bank, which is just a finance deal. But the the other guy is doing a L/P deal, even tho you insist it is not. Call any major carrier, and ask about their program and they are set-up the same way. It's a L/P or a bank deal, either way, it's a used company truck that was paid for, Crete sells it to him at about a 15% intrest rate, then states they have to drive for Crete. I know they don't own the bank, but they might as well. I am sure they hold stock in it.

Truck paper is no way to judge the value of a truck. I am guessing it is either a Century or 9200/9400i with say about 500k miles??? I bought 3 of them for $20k a piece 2 years ago. Fleet spec trucks are a dime-a-dozen and call any of those said trucks you found in the TP and offer them $20-$25k and I will bet they will sell it to you no problem. heck, just drive by a Selectrucks dealership and see how many of these fleets are sitting collecting dust. Most likely they will just get passed on to Lone Mountain at some point so some guy who has a 400 credit score and come trucking for .95cpm too!

I am glad your truck is almost paid off tho, and I am sure that you will deff enjoy driving much more w/o a payment. i know I sure do, and it makes the job much more enjoyable.

best of luck

 

Ok, that's a much better sounding deal. Like I said, i wasn't trying to be a dick, just understand how your guy's situation worked for you over there.

As for future financing, deff try your personal bank. I financed both my 1st two trucks thru them and they gave me the used car rate, which at the time was about 6% (compared to a dealers 12-19%) Also you will be able to do a little better since you have a truck to trade in too.

Best of luck to both of you, i hope you guys keep it going!

And again, i apologize if it came off wrong, I guess i didn't get the just of what you were saying.

 

Must admit that your inability to understand simple market economics leads me to doubt your $2.75 gig.

 

First off, I don't know how you can make a living at $1.29 and still provide for your family.

Second, I do know the market, as I own and operate more than just 1 truck, and have bought/sold 5 trucks in the last year. it is not a sellers market, and if you shoped somewhere other than Crete you would understand this. There is a HIGH surplus of COMPANY FLEET trucks everywhere you look. And being from TX you should know that only the hoods really hold value and have a niche market. IH, FTL ect don't sell very well really (I'm not saying they are bad trucks at all, in fact they are very good trucks) just saying that the only guys who buy those types of trucks are usually fleet owners or guys who are 1st time buyers. Granted, I'd take the great MPG over looks anyday!
Here are just two recent examples.... I bought a 2006 387 w/c13 and 398k miles fully loaded for $25k cash 2 months ago. before that, i picked up a 2005 T600 w/440k miles for $31k. Now these are highly sought after PACAR products. I sold my 2005 9400i for $15k with 501k miles, and my 2008 Columbia w/581k miles for $19k bith to local farmers. I went to the IH dealer in Indianapolis and they had 73 Celedon trucks, 14 Werners, 5 Star Petes and 22 PAM trucks all with under 400k miles and i was told I could buy anyone of them for $20k cash OTD.... just saying.

If you would like my contact info then I can do so, but tney will tell you the same thing they have told everyone else and that is they have a contract in place with me for the next 5yrs and they only use 1 trailer a week. I provide them with flexiability when they have a shut-down (which can sometimes be a few days, or up to a month) and with having a truck-payment, i don't think you can sit idle for a month with no revenue.... but if you really want to come pull tanks, i have a few other contacts that will get you home at least every two days and you should make as much as you are now if not more. But most van guys don't like tanks as it is very labor intesive and you don't just sit in the bunk and nap while getting loaded. But you seem to want to be running your own biz soon, so it may be something you like.

 

What I learned when shopping for my truck was the sticker price was padded so when the guy came in and needed 35% down but only had 10k the dealer cold work his "magic" with the finance company.

What we had in the market for trucks in the '05-'06 range is multiple perfect storms. First, the fleet price for a new Century in '06 was between $85k and $95k. These trucks held value because what happened was a run up in prices in the next couple of years. In '08 the same spec'd truck was now selling fleet at $105-$115 and today they are over $120.

Enter '0-8-'09 and companies that would be replacing '05's decided to take the buy out option of the lease and keep the truck for an extra year or two.

Fast forward to today and now some companies are replacing 2-3x the number of trucks that they normally would in a year as they held onto trucks that would normally have been out of the fleet. This has driven the prices way down. You will also see a wider range of miles.

 

My problem with working for most other companies, % or mileage contract, is where I live. It's almost like Miami when it comes to freight. If I worked on % I would take a very hard hit on out bound freight prices or incure a lot of deadhead. Thus I would not net anymore, and possibly less, than what I do on a mileage contract. And I'm cerrtainly not going to switch to a tank for the same or slightly more $$$.

 

What you say is very true. And if The Truck Paper pricing is over market value on these fleet trucks then I will stand corrected. In either case, if anyone reading this thread is considering buying a fleet truck they will at least have better insight.