Those that need/want to Fleece Purchase from a carrier

Fixed it for ye...

 

I have a 2011 Prostar, paid it off in 2 years with 56k in savings left over after cutting a check for 54k to pay it off. Yes I run team with my wife, so this helped a lot, but i think I could have done it solo (likely with no money left over tho). i got the truck BRAND NEW, no interest, from the fleet, and paid exactly what they paid for it, costs transferred to me (they actully showed me the sheet where they purchased it thru GE-Finantial). That being cleared up, I have 550k miles on it.

If you run the truck like a dog with your foot in it all day, yes, there will be a point where costs exceed a new one in short order. If you take good care of your investment and do ALL of the maintenence recomended in that book, as well as driving it nicely, the mileage becomes almost irrelivent. If maintenence is done well, and on a scheduled basis, most of the unpredictable problems that are usually seen out here are avoided or are caught early on and can be planned for. Even an Inframe after that first million+ miles, if planned for, is actually not a big deal. ALL trucks have an operating cost vs profit. Keep that money set aside for maint. costs and pointed at the truck in a pro-active way, and your reliability will far outweigh in profit any other method. Read that chapter 'All things maintenence' and it will become clear. My goal from the begining was to run the truck 2-million miles team (about 8 years) and to gross $2.7 million, keeping as much as possible with it, then retire it. So far, I am right on schedule with those figures, and from the numbers above, it is clear that I could easily invest in any repair needed at this point.

...As one old trucker told me long ago...
...ALL trucks break down,...but none hardly ever actually die.

Yes, there are VERY predictable numbers for just about every component on a truck, for example your 750k miles. At that point, all of the 15k-500k maint items should have been done, and a well cared for EGR truck has likely used up 60-65% of its engine's wear-component lifespan. It would be a good idea at this point to start planning on an Inframe when its starts showing signs that it needs to be done (likely at about 1.2 mil miles). Will that cost more than a newer truck? hmm,.. $25,000 (a very expensive well done inframe) for another million miles, lets see...

25,000 for 1 more million miles = a cost of 0.025 cents per mile.
100,000 for a new truck to get your next million miles = 10 cents per mile. Thats a huge cost, just for your next million miles.

Read the chapter 'Understanding egr and DPF'. Actually the biggest problem right now IS NOT the emmissions so much. Its the incompetence of just about every repair shop out there. It reminds me of the 'Rubix Cube' in the 1980's. Hand it to someone who knows the pattern well and they will solve it effortlessly in 30-seconds. Hand it to someone who has never seen it, and they will be there for weeks and brag about how they got 2 sides the same color.

Yes EGR costs about 1MPG, but earodynamic and other engine improvements have been able to offset it so far. Thats why most newer truks get 7+MPG without effort when driven right.

 

The book is FREE and was written BY a driver and not some paid show-host.

 

And I am glad you cleared that up, as it is apparently full of it.
EGR and DPF arent the problems? Give me a break. Please, oh please, explain why Cat, Detroit and Cummins went downhill with the installation of these items? I am talking from the factory, not after some greased up 'tard at a TA had his mitts on it.
My statement stands, if these books have drivel like that in them, I have absolutely no use for them, and apparently have been doing just fine for 20+yrs without them.
Martin

 

there is no point to your blantant ignorance here. you only make yourself look foolish.

 

Oh dear, is that it? Really?
I was driving all these engines BEFORE the emission junk got bolted to them bud. So, unlike some, I speak from experience and not from some book. I also rebuild a fair few motors, as well as carry out a lot of my own maintenance. Thus I would say, after doing that for a couple of decades, I trust my EXPERIENCE more than a paragraph in a book that somebody wrote.
Only blatant ignorance comes from......surprise surprise, a flease operator. Say it aint so.... I will happily continue to look foolish to yourself. I have never been tied to a carrier, spec my own trucks out as a rule, finance it through anywhere I want to, and all the time get paid more to drive it than any flease operator I know. The numbers you quoted for running team, is roughly what I get on my own, and dont have to run the snot out of a combine to do it.
Carry on by all means, although the one that appears foolish wont be myself. My experience backs up everything I say. Just the same as any other O/O that has been at it more than a couple of years.

Martin

 

You cannot make it!! The best way I can give you a visual is this.....ever see the weight loss commercials with the celebrities....need I say more lol. The companies will have their own "favorites" where they will cook the books so they can brag about how someone completed a lease and got the title to their truck. In this fashion the companies can say ..."see people they did get their own trucks." This is just a ploy to keep the companies out of hot water. Not to mention if they get dragged into court for fraud they can put their "celebrity drivers" on teh stand to testify how they successfully completed the lease. (very shrewd on the trucking companies part lol).

The math does not work. Do not do it. Get your own truck the right way....this way if they start ever screwing with you...you can take your truck and go somewhere else.

 

still, there is no point to your blantant ignorance here. you only make yourself look foolish.

 

I am like most out there can not afford to by a truck at this point. Unlike most, I have made money on a lease running as low as 83cpm with no fuel surcharge. If your like most reading this you are saying ########! It wasn't great money, but it always more than enough to cover bills and stash some away. After 14 months I had 10 grand in personal savings, 10 grand in maint. 4 grand in truck purchase account, 8500 for the year in a tax account.

Due to a tragedy at home I had to get off the road. I am glad I had that savings. Now after a few years off the road I am going back OTR and I am going to lease. Starting from scratch again sucks, but I know it can be done.

 

You mean to say that if I buy those pills, I wont turn into some muscle bound 20yr old? ######!

Martin