Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

Spot market is not great right now, but the average is at $1.60. Lower in some areas, higher in others. Contract freight falls below that. The midwest, where I would mostly operate, is on the high side of this average.

Insurance and a trailer are the significant costs in the beginning. Insurance, covering me in both reefer and dry van, also covering any and all high value loads will run me under $9k. A trailer comes down to the direction I decide to go.

Dealing with brokers is something I have been studying up on for a while. It's all about preparing yourself for everything before making a jump. I do well at negotiating, something I have been doing in another business for quite some time.

 

I've driven plenty of Volvos and I hate them. I rank them down there with inter-trashinals.

K-whoppers are my truck, but like sea level says I wish it was like the old days and I had my engine of choice.

So I have been shopping for Coronados with the dd15. Not many out there, tons of gliders with the series 60, which I would love to have, but I need to get into Cali.

 

Another business? I was going to say, weren't you offering up your truck a little while back because you had a business opportunity?

 

I'll sell my carb sticker.....lol

 

If they

probably my favorite new truck after the 5700xe

 

Not me

 

I had a KW T680..junk compared to the Volvo I bought.
72K and nothing other than a wheel seal..no check engine lights..nada.
Granted she's still new..but so far she has out done the 680 by leaps and bounds.
I've driven long nosed whoppers and petes,corn huskers and shakers.
Always liked Mack's back in the day when they were still 100% Mack built.
New trucks are about the same..some ride better than others or have better build quality etc.
More or less on the same footing.

 

well played.......here's another counter-intuitive thought............ready?????

Get the one with the most miles. Most of the stuff that's gonna break is gonna happen in the first 100k. DPF is good for about 300k, starter for about 350k. I'd want one with about 100-150k on the clock. If you ain't gonna own it, why not?
By the way, SNI does a good job of cleaning up the used ones.....I know, I got one. If you pay for your services out of your pocket ($300-$400), you'll have a nice nest egg and down payment in your maintenance account after a year. Oh, one other thing, ATBS is total crap. Find a local CPA who does trucking taxes.

Good luck

 

I am in no way a engine expert. In reality just a faceless name on the internet who gets to spout off unfounded opinions.
The problem I see is these trucks are a two hundred thousand dollar depreciating investment. It is and should be looked at as a long term game.
The true money too be made is after the truck is paid for and the warranty is long gone.
You can always upgrade the truck and make it into whatever you want. The power train...well your stuck with that.
The question I would ask myself is what truck would I be most likely to get 1.5 million out of with the least amount of problems.
If you have no intention of keeping a truck that long you would be far better to just lease from Penske and let them deal with the headache.