Questions for my first truck (Volvo)

I have mixed emotions about thius statement.

You seem to be very bright,And have a good grasp on things.

However.....Pulling the plug in a catastrophic moment from personal accounts is not the end.

It may Seem that way- But you MAY regret pulling the plug too quickly and going back to being a company driver.
Why? because you'll begin saying to yourself- "Man,I Miss that good money as an owner- Now Im Back making $800- $900 net per week.

I Tell younger owner -ops....Fight,You Sweat a lotta Blood-You work hard- Don't Give in- Because giving in shows more weakness than Brilliant minds.

And most importantly... DO NOT let your personal life be the deciding factor- ( Wife,family,friends etc) Your Business is part of your family.

 

If them cards were available like that when I was running around down there I would be rich, rich I tell you. lol
If they were available back then, I never knew it, it would sure made a difference in the fuel bill. I did have a few places that gave me a discount, but nothing like that.

 

I just looked at my fuel card discounts thru my company who goes thru loves mostly. It's right on par with what the other poster said.

30-50 cents cheaper a gallon. Almost 600 a month right there for me. That's pretty substantial I'd say.

 

Right now I’m just a little nervous about getting back the cash I invested. I got 2/3 of it back in the business account however a few big breakdowns could put me back where I started from. On top of that my truck is going into a KW dealer Wednesday for a couple emissions codes and a few other things I’d like done.. Being the first time putting it into a dealer for repairs I’m nervous about the coming bill.

Praying for a couple more months of good luck with the truck.

 

The biggest red flag I saw was “my dispatcher”. Never would I let a dispatcher dictate the success or failure of my business. You need to be somewhere that you self dispatch, and that shouldn’t even be a discussion.

As far as the truck, I’d take the money and get a new one from Lone Mountain, or they have a few 1-2 year old models available with factory warranties. Several different 780’s and new 860’s.

Just my .02 worth

 

Some good advice an old oo's, well actually a small company owner, gave me when I bought my first truck was to never look back at what you would be making if you were still working.
My grandad told me that there would be weeks I thought I wuldbe rich pretty quick, and then weeks I thought I wouldbe in the soup line prettyquick, they were both right as rain. lol

 

Yeah I know its Scary- But its a business-You have to look at it from that perspective....

A Few pointers I can Give you to help ease your mind

1.Try doing a lot of the work yourself-You'll save thousands per year on labor rates
2.Take good care of your truck- Baby it when your working-


And always remember.....Your a special individual in trucking- MANY guys just can't do it- They don't have the patience or business model to follow......

Just like the restaurant business-Only about 10% make it for long periods of time- Its about being smart (Which you are) and doing things right.

You'll be fine- Try to stay away from dealers from this moment forward once your truck is done

 

What codes? Maybe look up Rawze channel on YouTube?

 

Carrier, at least the large ones had them back then, but iirc most of my friends that were leased to them would get 19 cents or something in that range off. I just don't think they were available to an individual, but they may have been. I had flying j cards, but there was no discount with it, I rarely used mine, but my other two drivers did.

 

Here is a thread I started the other day in regards to my codes

Fault codes question SPN:3482 & SPN:77