Day by day adventures of a new solo OTR driver

Discussion in 'Schneider' started by dieselfuelonly, Feb 22, 2013.

  1. dieselfuelonly

    dieselfuelonly Road Train Member

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    Chapel Hill, NC
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    Gonna remember that... sure beats trying to survive off of Atlanta's "cafeteria" aka snack machines.
     
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  3. Kutina

    Kutina Light Load Member

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    Excited for your new adventure dfo I can already tell it will be a good read! Wish you best of luck !!
     
  4. Opus

    Opus Road Train Member

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    Glen is a super guy....(his nickname is Dude.....)

    Just a word on buying a tractor from an outside source.....this is/was my experience:

    I've got super credit, no problems whatsoever there. But, what I didn't have was enough experience.......they were looking for at least 2 years. So, they sent me to a "secondary" lender.......60% down and 26% APR, no lie. I begged off and went with Schneider Finance. My contact there was Julie....she's really nice and will help you out long after the sale.
    I got an '09 Cascadia w/ 385k on the clock. The day I got it it looked like it had rolled off the factory floor the day before. The re-firb guys really did a super job. I went with used because I wanted to buy an not get into a revolving lease deal.....I'll have this paid off in less than 3 years. The other thing is some of the used ones are spec'ed out a bit better than the new sorta-company trucks. Mine has a 13 speed and a lot of higher end stuff in the cab / bunk.
    I am completely, 100%, without reservations of any kind happy with Schneider Finance. I highly, highly recommend them.

    The choice program itself is pretty awesome, but remember, you're still working with SNI ops and their limitations / aggravations. But the good news is, I rarely (maybe once a week) communicate with them and then it's only if I have a problem with a shipment. The rest of the time, I just roll. And when I want to go home I do. I don't ask permission nor do I sit on pins and needles for a week hoping they get me home when they said they would. I don't go to the Northeast unless it pays. the load I'm under right now is going to Maine......right at 1,000 miles, 2 day trip......wait for it.......$2.12 a mile. Had a load a couple of weeks ago that ran intercity Atlanta......$240 for 30 miles, no joke. Most of the time you're running $1.40 - $1.70 a mile. My personal goal is $4k a week and I never have a problem making that unless I go home. Your cut, in case you're interested is about 40%.....tax, tag, fuel, EVERYTHING except for a $15 fee to pre-pass once a month.....so, do the math. On a $4K week you're looking at between $1500 and $1700 to the house.

    Good luck DFO......if you really like driving, and it sounds like you do, this is the only way to go.......you'll never work again.
     
    Kutina, Old - School, Charlami and 3 others Thank this.
  5. dieselfuelonly

    dieselfuelonly Road Train Member

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    Nov 12, 2012
    Chapel Hill, NC
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    Thats good to hear Dipschitt... thanks for the information. I got your PM and will probably be in touch with you soon.

    I have a feeling I will probably be going through Schneider for a truck as well. My lack of any sort of credit history will make it all but impossible for me to finance something from the outside.

    I'm like you and want to find a truck that I want to OWN when its all said and done. That's why I'm being so picky about what kind of specs I want it to have. I keep my vehicles for a long time and have no interest in leasing a truck and then turning it back in.

    Question for you, while you are still making the lease payments to Schneider, is the truck considered "your truck" as in are you free to do with it as you please (i.e. can I tear into this truck and make it "my" truck) or are they going to say "nope until its paid off, you don't touch a thing on this truck"? I've never worked on a DD15, so I don't know if engine internals change with the HP ratings, but just for example lets say I find a truck that Schneider has that still has the 455HP fleet specs, will SFI throw a fit if I go to the dealer and want to have it flashed to 505HP? What if I want to install a bigass RV inverter/charger and mount a Honda generator? Just curious as something like that will really sway my decision on whether I go through SFI or really try hard to bring in an outside truck.

    Thanks for the help man!

    Also on your '09 are you running the DD15 or the 14.0L? I'm not sure what year they switched over.
     
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  6. inbdusfor20yrs

    inbdusfor20yrs Light Load Member

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    Indianapolis, IN
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    I need to study up on the HOS rules.. I got the basic down, I think.. 14 hours in a day, you can only drive 11 out of the 14 after taking 10 hours off...
     
  7. mickeyrat

    mickeyrat Road Train Member

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    on my 30 min break
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    minus the 30 minute break at or before 8 hours of first coming on duty.
     
  8. the mary trucker

    the mary trucker Light Load Member

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    Aug 9, 2012
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    It is yours to modify. From day one!
     
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  9. dieselfuelonly

    dieselfuelonly Road Train Member

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    Nov 12, 2012
    Chapel Hill, NC
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    Great, that is good to hear. I'm sure SFI is closed for the weekend so I'll give them a call on Monday hopefully so I can find out how to view their inventory.

    Headed way up into WI today from Gary, IN. Made my drop delivery in a little town, only one other Schneider trailer there and they hadn't unloaded it. Crap. Checked my workflow and I was picking up a relayed load about 80 miles away. Perfect! That worked out well, lol. Nothing like going on a trailer search on a Saturday to ruin your day. So, bobtailed over and grabbed the relayed load, heading to Terre Haute. Ran my 70 down to 13 minutes! Got 420ish miles to go and regaining about 9 and a half hours to get there tomorrow, so it'll be a nice full day.

    I've really enjoyed the two times I have been up into WI so far. I haven't dealt with any big cities here, but the small towns are all real nice, not too many stop lights and almost all the 2-lanes I have been on are 55mph+.
     
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  10. the mary trucker

    the mary trucker Light Load Member

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    Too bad you couldn't hang around Green Bay and meet with Glen.
     
  11. 91B20H8

    91B20H8 Road Train Member

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    The Heart of the North, Mi
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    Wisc. is cool, mostly friendly down home folks, but some of the traffic circles they have kinda:biggrin_25512:not made for trucks
     
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