We are taking on a small fleet of trucks and I have a bunch of dumb questions

are you going to be using them? if so how much? how many days a week will they all run? how many miles?

I run a small local fleet, Id suggest for maintenance: If minimal (5K) miles and local work figure maybe $10-15K/truck/year average for the mix of years as a base then as miles go up, so does the cost.
for fuel, that's not hard to figure out at 5mpg depending on the miles/fuel cost
labor, you'll have to see what tanker guys are getting in your area, which should be something you can look up. Don't forget total cost of employment is a good bit more than what the guys get paid (comp, unemployment, some taxes, etc), Maybe overtime if you're not crossing state lines.
insurance all depends on your current ratings and what you're hauling, I have no idea about hazmat or what limits you're gonna run, but $5-$10 per truck at the low end for $1M coverage is a place to start, ask a professional.
no idea on regulatory
stuff you missed:
parking? towing? damages? tickets? uniforms? non-truck safety equipment? fines? other business costs? hiring someone to manage your 6+ drivers?

The numbers I threw out are based on my experience in my market, not doing hazmat and doing real low mileage urban work. YMMV for sure. Best person to ask is the guy you bought the gear off of. Who ever it is maybe has some time on their hands now?

Figure out what your competition charges, that'll give you a good reality check on what it HAS TO cost less than.

 

The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask.

 

Yeah, your numbers are going to be a good bit higher than the ones I posted. As for new vs used it's a pay now/pay later kinda thing. Lots of threads already on that here and other places, articles too. IMHO lower miles is more older-equipment compatible. Jumping right into a setup of that size is not going to be fun, there's a lot to learn and mistakes can be expensive, just normal stuff is expensive and a lot of the time you won't have any idea which it is. I think the next purchase after all those trucks should be someone with experience in running a fleet of them. I knew a guy who got hired to run a brand new fuel delivery fleet who had management experience, but no trucking. Service station owner decided he didn't want to pay the delivery company for his gas anymore and wanted his name on the side of a truck. He just hired the guy I knew who didn't know anything about trucking to manage it. He did his best but it got expensive FAST, plus since he didn't already know a lot it was real hard for him to call BS on his drivers who knew more about hauling fuel than he did. Of course if finding someone to do the job eliminates your job...

 

How does your boss deal with capital equipment and the accounting of the assets of said equipment?

I think him handing this to anyone other than his cpa is stupid on his part.

for example how do you want to do the maintenance, piece meal or amortized?

Dumping money into an account for the trucks may be a good thing but overall the way it is done needs to be decided.

How do you determine where the disposal point of ownership happens with an older truck or where the break even point is with a new truck - it isn't all about depreciation.

Payroll shouldn't be included in the operating costs of the trucks if there are other parts of the business where there are people employed.

There are a lot more things to deal with, I would think that the cpa of the company needs to be involved to make sure the accounting is done as the rest of the company. Overall there isn't much different than running other equipment in a business.

 

so you had the numbers all along? what is this "the price is right"?

I assume that's all per month right?
2500 comp on 25000 payroll is 10% which is about right for trucking with a decent experience rating, your company may do better or worse on that
but yeah, that all looks believable, but also doesn't include setting aside $$ for a rainy day, weird crazy BS that happens, or whatever.
Tires/oilchange/small repairs can be 2500/month
but some months will be BAD. with 23 axles on the road every day and brakes at $3k per axle you're going to be doing those at some point. maybe add a category for "big repairs" that's $2500/mo. Some months it will be $0, some months it will be $10K.
do you inherit the guy's drivers and rolodex and other contacts? for buying him out do you get to call him now and then for advice?