Buying a backup truck

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by gabton-tankers, Aug 25, 2014.

  1. gabton-tankers

    gabton-tankers Light Load Member

    92
    6
    Feb 11, 2014
    0
    Hi all, I am now on my 6th month of truck ownership and I have learned more the bad than the good. I dont want to go on a rant and just want to get straight to my questions and hopefully you can give your shiny two cents. I want to get a backup truck to maximize my up-time with loads. I think having a backup will definitely help with this situation.

    What kind of truck should I look for? Does it have to be exactly the same as my truck right now? 2007 international 9200i with cat engine. How about mileage? What should I be looking for in terms of mileage and price wise? I will be hauling crude oil averaging to about 190-200 bbls. I know that if I buy a reliable truck, then my backup can remain a backup just in case something were to happen. I guess it just boils down to my budget and how much I can spend on a truck. I'm thinking in the $30-$50k range.

    Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. notsonewb

    notsonewb Light Load Member

    180
    78
    Jul 29, 2014
    0
    Buy a nice T800 Kenny , then when the inte rational goes down ,you will be covered , makes sense to me cause for example if something were to happen to the power unit u would be out of bussiness until you were running again ,
     
  4. Bandaid

    Bandaid Light Load Member

    114
    60
    Feb 21, 2012
    Union, Mo
    0
    I've gone through this idea as well, and everyone had some interesting input.
    My idea was a pre 2002 truck in the $8000 or below range, mileage doesn't matter too much in my mind as it is a backup and shouldnt have too many miles put on it within a year. Ive found a few pre 2002 12.7 freightliner fld's with 300k on rebuilds for around 9/10 grand. And my idea, if your spending 50/60 grand on a "it hit the fan" truck.... mabey you should look into selling your "main" truck and put that 50/60 into a more reliable truck (cough cough, non 07-10 cat engine).


    http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...perator/258659-backup-truck-just-in-case.html heres my thread for inspiration
     
  5. Skunk_Truck_2590

    Skunk_Truck_2590 Road Train Member

    2,093
    683
    Feb 16, 2007
    Stonewall, LA.
    0
    That's what some of us have this thing called a maintenance account where money is saved up to get through those down times. If it is financed, you still have another payment, insurance that must be kept tag's and so forth plus another money pit. You would be spending far more money then you would be by just dealing with your current truck being down. And don't forget trucks are taxed as an asset and that will never stop and taxes will eat you up even if you rarely, if ever drive it even though you only pay the miles you roll in road tax. Point being you would be pissing away more money by doing that and then you have to question the fact if your current truck breaks down on the other side of the country, how are you gonna get to that back up and how will you get it home once your main truck is back up and going. That's a lot more money going out then you have coming in. The only way to justify it is to hire a full time driver to drive the other. Unless you have a #### ton of cash to blow then it would be not so much less than wise but more a long the lines of pure ignorance to do such a thing. You'll go bankrupt before you know it. Not trying to down you for the idea but it's just not realistic. I mean if it worked then all O/O's would be doing it but the honest answer is there's not one that does it who relies solely on the income from his loads to keep his business afloat.

    Oh and why a yellow block motor? They are of the most expensive to repair and the fuel mileage leaves a lot to be desired in numbers.
     
    stabob, not4hire and RAGIN CAJUN Thank this.
  6. Mooose

    Mooose Light Load Member

    161
    61
    Apr 13, 2014
    Sherwood Park,AB
    0
    Is your current ride not reliable?? Get rid of it and buy a reliable ride. Don't forget your per mile operating costs will go up even not using a "spare" truck, insurance, maintenance etc. your better off getting a reliable truck.
     
    PE_T Thanks this.
  7. 201

    201 Road Train Member

    11,172
    22,656
    Apr 16, 2014
    high plains colorado
    0
    I agree with Skunk, buying a back up truck is a pretty good waste of money. When a truck sits for extended periods of time, it's the kiss of death. Tires, brakes, cooling system, air system all need to be used. In the unlikely event your truck breaks down, get a rental, or better yet, go fishing.
     
    Mooose Thanks this.
  8. mugurpe

    mugurpe Medium Load Member

    395
    274
    May 5, 2013
    Arlington, MA
    0
    look into rentals, we use penskes for a backup and aside from having to go pick it up it's not bad. We also found that the over-the-phone rates where cut in half after we got a national negotiated rate account through our trade organization. Of course I don't know anything about tankers and perhaps penske, or anyone else, doesn't have the right gear for rent. But at $115/day and $.18/mi a rental is a LOT cheaper than a backup truck. If you're using it enough that it's cheaper than a rental it's not a backup truck anymore.
     
  9. gokiddogo

    gokiddogo Road Train Member

    8,775
    14,727
    Mar 5, 2012
    Ontario Canada
    0
    I am kind of in the reverse situation ... The truck I have now is an old but reliable truck, I know it won't last forever, and I just plain want a big hood Pete ... when the day comes, this old truck will become my "local" truck, if it does much at all ... and the new one will be my primary earner ... maybe I will drive this old one very locally until it blows up and hire someone to drive the hood ... I don't know ...
     
  10. RAGIN CAJUN

    RAGIN CAJUN Light Load Member

    198
    116
    Jun 20, 2013
    0
    Sounds like the OP bought $hittie truck to begin with and didn't know what he PURCHASED if his years of driving are CORRECT that would EXPLAIN ALOT..sound like op been in business a few months and either made a few bucks or according to his EXPERIENCE if that's true,SOUND LIKE he was making good MONEY,but then truck went down and he got in a JAM n got NERVOUS,and wanna find a way to have a PIECE OF MIND by purchasing additional equipment ,Brother this is the TRUCKING BUSINESS..LOL you'll NEVER HAVE THAT, what if both trucks break at DA SAME TIME????

    WHAT ??? did I say something wrong-IT DOES HAPPEN AND IT WILL HAPPEN,not tryna be a Debbie downer but I had injectors and rear ends go out before at DA same time two diff trucks

    Lmao talking bout SPENDING MONEY AND DOWN TIME!

    But with wanting to spend $30,000 on a back up if you MANAGE YOUR MONEY PROPERLY,you should be able to fix any thing on that TRUCK IN MORE THAN ENOUGH time not causing you a lot of down time

    ONE MAJOR THING ALSO is to have a GOOD MECHANIC,or know how to change and fix a few things on your truck yourself.

    Some shops will fix and break something else just so u bring it back to the shop and break
    Something else,MAKE U SPEND MORE MONEY-and it DOESNT HELP TO BRING YOUR TRUCK TO ALOT OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE,I treat my truck like my OLD LADY-1 MAN WORKING ON HER AT A TIME LOL...

    Also proper PRE TRIPPING WILL HELP KEEP COST DOWN ALSO..U don't wanna just take off and get down the road BELT POPS..and you could of changed that before you got rolling,or truck runs hot because of low coolant..LITTLE BASIC things can help out a long way

    I have 2 accounts for my truck A (AWW $HITT) MAINTENANCE account & a (###% ME GOOD Y DONT CHA) EMERGENCY ACCOUNT ..LOL for when things break
     
  11. gabton-tankers

    gabton-tankers Light Load Member

    92
    6
    Feb 11, 2014
    0
    Thank for your opinions. Yes, I did bought a ###### truck and I already spent too much on it to justify getting it traded in? Replaced transmission, rebuilt PTO, etc. I actually when I added all the maintenance and parts, I spent almost the same amount as buying a good used truck. I'm actually open to doing renting from PENSKE but do they rent trucks for crude oil trailers? including having a PTO setup already without doing any other modifications? I will need a Hydraulic pump as well for this to work.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.