New vs Used: some real life data for 2018

You're a true believer, that's for sure

Kind of like the guy who will argue for hours on end that Jimi Hendrix was (is) way better than Joe Satriana LOL.

 

My .02 on this is I started out in a 1984 freightliner 23 years ago. That truck was tired already back then. Over the years I've owned 5 more trucks, 93,377 pete with cat bought used. Made money with that truck but was a pyle driver to drive and was in shop plenty. 98 Volvo 630 bought used,detroit, made money and was in the shop less. 2001 Volvo 660 Volvo motor, made a lot of money with this truck. Should have kept it just change oil and tires and drive it. 2007 Volvo 780, Volvo motor, first two years with this truck nearly drove me insane. Every week was another problem. Most of them small, none were engine related, a couple were because of emissions. Just had crap that was hard to track down. And found out about alge in the fuel tanks with this truck.. After those first two years was not a bad truck and made money. Finally 2017 Volvo 730 bought new in 2016. Volvo motor and I shift trans. as of today she has 205000 miles and have had very few problems. Those few I did have were covered by warranty. fuel milage went up from 6.5 to 7.2. and I am making money with this one too. All of this is to say you can get a good truck or a lemon, and unplanned down time in a shop can make the payment on a new truck in a couple of days.

 

I agree with 100%. To each their own. I'm considering doing leases let the dealership take care of everything included. We have a breakdown its all on them towing and finding us a rental. Our goal is very little down time for equipment. I also agree with you to some extent that older equipment was built better, many things were. But I do also think some things are better now. I think we all can agree that we don't want to pollute and breath clean air. My take on it is at what cost to us do we do that. The government forced operators into unproven faulty equipment. And shame on the manufactures for not being out ahead of this regulation.

 

Now what you say right here is where the sticking point comes in. IF you can get a truck that was refurbished, AND DONE RIGHT, then you may just be better off. BUT, if the refurbish is just lipstick being put on a pig, then you are screwed. And thats where the problem comes in, you won't know, unless you've done it yourself, or supervised it being done, if it was done properly or not.

 

You don't make money turning wrenches if you own trucks that are supposed to make you money.

I leave the repairs to others who keep them running, I don't have the time to mess around with that, and if you want to be in a business to make money and grow, you also don't have time to mess around with it.

 

This is a very wise statement. IF you have a backup truck to drive while the one is getting fixed. Otherwise, if you are just going to stand there with your wallet in your hand to pay someone else to do it while you watch...

 

Yes you are right, but this also goes for fleet owners who have 1 to a million trucks, the individual truck that is set into the fleet can't sit idle or be reconditioned, the cost of that truck in the fleet starts the second it is purchases and costs continue until it turns a profit. That would include a backup truck, which can be justified in a situation where there is a high value customer who needs things moved without interruption. I have trucks sitting there in the fleet for these types of customers and the costs are covered in the rates I charge.

I've been doing this a long long time, I was reading about TCO when Gartner created the term back in '87, and applied it and other things like it to practices for both equipment and managing people.

Fleet or single truck ownership has the same principles applied to them.

However to add to my comments above, read what I said below.

Well you got it wrong.

If you are looking at the TCO, then you are going to have skewed and inaccurate numbers.

new or use is not a factor TCO.

TCO only includes these things -

• Depreciation costs
• Fuel costs
• Insurance
• Financing
• Repairs
• Fees and taxes
• Maintenance costs
• Opportunity costs
• Downtime costs

But what you need to look at is what is called Total Cost of Acquisition which includes the purchase price, applied taxes and fees and other items to get the truck ready for production.

 

Joe, I edited my post, please read it again.