Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

You can't just go out, buy a truck, expect others to take care of you and be successful. What you are proposing is a recipe for disaster. You have to prepare yourself because without being a businessman you aren't going to last long. Keep that desire you have to be an owner operator, but you've got to learn enough so you can take care of your affairs yourself.

 

Red, I think you got it backwards on the maintenance aspects. Shops love warranty work, everything is cut and dry. It's the unaffiliated guy with an old truck who is subject to all kinds of shady shop practices, incuding saying work is performed when it isn't. Damaging something to fix it, fixing something that doesn't need it, etc.... I feel the most control you can ever have over a truck is to own it from day one.

Look, here's where I'm coming from. I've had my truck 3 years, got it with 700,000 miles, now it is coming up on 1,000,000. I have been very fortunate, never been on the hook, no major breakdowns. But ad up injectors, new fifth wheel, fix broken head bolt, alternator, steer tires, air dryer, etc.... I've probably put $15k in it, and just off the top of my head I can come up with another $15k I'd like to do if I was gonna keep it. bearings, rebuild rears, u-joints and carrier bearings, drive tires, air compressor, harmonic balancer, I could keep going.

Basically, I feel like I'm in a spot where I will have to spend more in repairs on this truck in the next two years than I would on payments on a new glider. It's definitely the situation Red describes where it's time to cut and run for me. Now, I think I can still get $15k at auction for this truck, paid $21k for it, and put $15k in it. So total of $21k for 3 years, not too shabby. But that is not counting downtime I guess, and as mentioned if I was keeping it would be another $15 - 25k easy and that is not touching engine which is bound to need work within the next two years.

I don't think I am being pessimistic to say I could easily put $50k into this truck over the next two years. Sure, that is manageable, but I was surprised myself when I run the numbers over the next 5 or 10 years I just keep coming up ahead, having more options and running like I want to run with the new glider.

Sure, I could also unload this one and try to find another that I could have confidence in for another 3 years. But I feel like I won the dice roll with this one, and I'm done gambling.

 

Really, there's no debate between old truck ~ new truck. If you've got a big wad of cash and a shop full of mechanics and extra trucks so drivers don't sit waiting for repairs, an outfit like the Haz outfit I drove for can do really well with older KWs. No hesitation to pull 'em in and tear 'em down.

Not many of us can be in two places at one time, out in the garage with the head off and driving down the road, too. Repairs, even if you can do them, mean lost income. That DIY (Do It Yourself) stuff does not come cheap when you factor in what you could have pulled in with a working truck.

No, what makes the difference is your net worth and how much of your net worth you want and/or can afford to tie up in your trucking operation, tires, tools, etc. Most of us are truck drivers; we're not rolling in dough (oh, maybe some of us were at one time, past tense). SOME of us are pretty lousy mechanics, too. The folks who rebuild their own turbos (tsavory comes to mind) are a breed unto themselves and many came out of agriculture because on the farm, you had to wrench your own equipment.

No choice.

And in the winter, farmers had a valuable commodity: time. Out in the barn was always an old tractor or other implement being torn down and rebuilt. They had the land, the income, the cash, the time, the know-how to rebuild and put equipment to use afterwards and the energy. Meet rugged individualism.

They were naturals, trucking naturals.

Most of us are on a bare shoestring but might aspire to be like wore out.

If you've got the nuts for it, ya gotta start somewhere.

But it's a contradiction. You start with something inexpensive and hope it holds together while you build your nest egg and your net worth for a better truck. Usually it doesn't. Those eggs crack.

But sometimes, sometimes it does...

Or at least it can.

 

Wore out actually came into trucking with a silver spoon in his mouth all jokes aside. What I mean by that is by my Dad and his Brother being owner operators, my Moms brother being an owner operator and the patience those 3 men had with me I wouldn't be where I am now which isn't peaches and cream every day lol. There are many days I would give anything for a little advise from one of them. I hope that my son continues to grow and change with the times to be successful. That was a hard part for me, hanging around in here has helped me to do that to a degree. It's amazing at how much I have learned from double yellow, Red, and Danny. When you close your mind then it's over for you, IMO.

 

been at it for 8 years now but although trucks break down all the time it has never really affected me as I always got the job done . Sometimes on long repairs had top switch trucks . But that is end dump work not OTR . If I buy I will surely hire an accountant and a ooida membership . I do not want to ruin my life by guessing . I have the work to pay for it . I can get around 800 a day and still be local . 1000 for trailer rental . Just have to figure out the rest . Would have to buy a newer truck because I do not have the cash for a large repair that would surely happen right after I started driving it if I bought a old one . Would not bother me as much if I had a place to work on one but I do not and do not own them kinds of tools . So it it would be pay someone else . Although I do have friends that are diesel mechanics .

 

New,used or glider,for me it's more about what you need to do the job. For others it's more about what they want. Everybody is different,most of the stuff Danny listed to me is weekend work. But I'm out and back every other day. Some don't want to drive all week and turn wrenches on the weekend.

If it was one size fits all,it would probably be a little boring.

 

In reply to danthetrucker

The shops may love warranty work because it keeps the cash flow going but if the big truck shops are anything like the Pontiac dealership I worked at or the 3 Cheverolet dealships that I had massive warranty work done at, the mechanics HATE IT

Warranty work does not pay like typical repair work 1 and 2 if the work comes back which it usually does , the mechanic eats his labor and has to work on it again , but now with a really Bad attitude.

Trust me , these mechanics have been hating life dealing with all this warranty crap on this emission stuff.

Just my 02 cents on that Dan nothing against you my friend.

You guys have been very informative with your thoughts and years of experience, whether it be a O/O or your years as a company driver or That guy that has an old rig with a shop behind his house where he performs minor surgery on a weekly base.

All of you sound like a bunch of reasonable men that are straight shooters, that are just trying to EEK out a living or better with what you know, while doing something that you love and believe you are doing the best that you can do.

And THAT'S all I am going to say about THAT

 

love this thread...keep the input comeing cus I'm still getting ood usefull information...thx gentlemen

 

That's brilliant. Just had to say it LOL