THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program

Could be. The other one had two hood mirrors and mine only had one. Maybe that was his?

 

There are some treatments you can put in the tank. But you will clog fuel filters like mad until it clears out because it all loosens up and gets sucked in.

I also don't like putting ANYTHING other than fuel in the tanks, especially with these high pressure injection systems and DPFs on these new engines.

It's not an unlikely problem, to be honest it's probably MORE likely than anything... I'm just hoping it's a one off fluke with some bad fuel that caused it, but we'll see what happens on these new sets of filters I just put on, and once I get a chance to look down in the tank.

 

SO it's decision time... been talking with my SFI rep about different options should I choose to finance the residual amount of what I owe on the truck through SFI.

All of these payments are still written as lease payments so I can show the tax deduction. I would no longer be contributing to the managed maintenance account through SFI.

OPTION 1:

SFI cuts me a check for the ~$10,000 that will be in my maintenance account and I just throw that in my savings.
I finance the remaining $54,000 for 2 years with payments at $574/week. The truck is completely paid off at the end of the 104 weeks.

That comes to a total of $59,696 paid on $54,000 which comes to an interest rate of 10%

OPTION 2:

SFI puts the ~$10,000 in the maintenance account down on the truck and brings the residual down to $44,000.
I finance the remaining $44,000 for 1.5 years with payments at $610/week. The truck is completely paid off at the end of 78 weeks.

That comes to a total of $47,580 paid on $44,000 which comes to an interest rate of 7.8%

On both of the above options I will still hang on bank loan that I was planning to use to buy a used truck with, and instead keep it around with the rest of my savings until I build them up to the point where I am capable of covering absolutely any kind of major breakdown that may occur.

Until the lease is completed I am still under the same lease contract where technically all modifications to the truck need to be approved (although they would be much more lenient since I would not be planning to turn the truck back in), and since I have proven myself for the past year, transferring to another carrier would not be a problem, although I have no desire to do so.

OPTION 3:

I take most of my savings, the bank loan, and the money saved up in the maintenance account and pay off the $54,000. I now have the title in my hand and very low weekly payment on the personal loan from the bank. However, I have almost nothing else saved to cover repairs while I rebuild my savings and personally I think this is a VERY risky route to take, especially since I know the truck is ready for some somewhat expensive new components such as a turbo, and may need the timing set which is an expensive and involved procedure.

Right now I am leaning towards option #2. The payment of $610/week sucks but it is only on a two year term that pays off the truck at the end so of course it is going to be high. The interest rate is actually pretty decent... better than what I have on the personal loan from the credit union.

The downside is that it will be frustrating being able to pay off the truck early but still having the early payoff fee hit if I pay it off before halfway through the term. Assuming the payoff fee would be the same as the current lease agreement (3% of the balance owed), lets say come the end of February I have enough saved up to be ready to pay it off completely and cover any repairs. It would cost me an extra $1200 to do that. I mean OK in the bigger picture its not the end of the world, but if I factor it into the interest rate it jacks it up by 2%.

The final thing I need to have a good understanding of is what the tax implications are... do early payoffs still count as a "lease payment" that can be written off? Being able to write off the entire truck payment is one thing that makes continuing the lease very attractive, especially now that the interest rate is much more reasonable. If I could write off that huge chunk I use to pay off the truck then it doesn't matter... but if I can't, that is another story.

I know it is silly to be in a hurry to get it all paid off but lets face it I want that tiny little truck payment so I can start saving for more important things like a tiny little house on a big piece of land.

So... lets here it forum... what advice do you have for me?