Getting Ready to Hit the Road with Magnum

That is much appreciated..... thanks buddy.....

mouth breather hehehehehhehehehehe that is funny

 

Just a quick update.....

I am not going to be buying the truck. The "broker" was trying to get me to do some things that are, shall we say, ILLEGAL. Not going to go into it right now, but I will later today when I have more time.

Buyer beware, right?

 

Yeah, sorry about having you pull guard duty for nothing. And it is somewhat disappointing (ok, REALLY disappointing), but this too shall pass. And I did learn a very valuable lesson about dealing with truck brokers. (I'll address that later in the post).

Thanks. And I am coming past there sometime Tuesday. Let's hook up!

Appreciate the thought Dino. Fell through, but there's another one out there with my name on it.

Gracious! Well good luck on that. Just be careful. Read my post below and you'll see what I encountered.

And they are not going to, Driver. You are going to have to be, not only proactive, but somewhat of a pest. These recruiters get dozens if not tens of dozens of applications everyday. How are you going to stand out? Pick up the phone and call. <"I have called and left a message"> Call them again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again until you get to talk to someone in recruiting. Nail them down and get them to offer you a pre-hire, then ask them when you should call back to check on the progress of your application. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BUG THE IMMORTAL DOG SNOT OUT OF THEM! Anything less, and your application gets filed away. Be kind, but forceful when it comes to getting your answers. But sitting around waiting for the phone to ring is nothing more than an exercise of futility. Pick up the phone..... make the call. And tell them Scooter sent ya! Naw, just kidding.... don't do that.... hehehehehhe

 

OK, so what happened with the truck deal? In a nutshell, the broker I was dealing with did a few things that made me leary. And then I was asked to do something illegal. And my friends, that ain't gonna happen. So here are the details. I hope that this information will help someone when they go to get their truck. But I promise not to bore you with ALL of the details. And in the spirit of fairness, I am not going to post the brokerage name, so please don't ask. However, if I don't get my deposit back by next week, maybe we can all meet in St Paul, huh? hehehehehe

I found this brokerage online and being that they were not far from one of our terminals, switching out trucks would be a breeze. As you all know, I was in search of a T600 (a very versatile truck), and they had 4 low mileage units with APU's. So I stopped by there one day between loads, drove a few, decided which one I wanted, and started the process. We discussed the terms, I was agreeable, wired them a $500 deposit, and waited for the financing to be approved. And it was.... the next day. BUT I was told that the unit I wanted was not going to be available because of mechanical issues (I gave them a punch list of what needed to be changed or corrected). However there were a couple other units that had slightly higher mileage (still under manufacturer warranty) that I could choose from.

So two days later, one of the junior brokers calls me and says that they just signed up with another lender that may be able to offer me a better rate. And I told him to see what he could do.

The weekend passes and then the junior broker calls me and said no problem, I got the lower rate, but I needed to send them another $500 (first sign this is going south). And of course, I gave him a resounding "No". He then started to try to convince me that this would need to be done if I wanted the truck. To which I told him that I was already approved with another company that wasn't requiring the extra money. You could hear the brain cells hard at work trying to come up with a rebuttal to that. And then when he realized that he had nothing to come back with, he put me on hold and got the senior broker to get on the phone with me (second sign).

So Max (a hint) gets on the phone with me. Now Max is very proud of his self-proclaimed ability to manipulate conversations. Unfortunately for him, up until all of this begun, I never let on that I knew what he was doing all along, and that I was not in the least bit affected by his schmooze. But all that changed rather quickly. We bounced back and forth for a few minutes and he finally conceded on the additional money issue.

Then he wanted me to fax over my last two payroll statements and last years tax return (a reasonable request). Except he said that by doing so, they could get all of the paperwork ready and then all I would have to do is stop by, give them the remainder of my deposit, sign the papers, and drive away. Why is this an issue? Well because I hadn't seen the other two trucks that I was going to be choosing from, therefore, how could they get the paperwork ready without knowing which VIN number to use? (third sign)

We finally got through that and he came to realize that what he was proposing was not acceptable and a waste of time on their part. I told him that I would be coming through town the next day and I would stop by, decide which truck I wanted, and then they could proceed. Then I would stop back later in the week to get the truck. How could he argue that?

Now here comes the "dealbreaker". He tells me that I need to bring a blank check when I come. When I asked why, he infoms me that I need to write a check for $10,000. They would then make a Xerox copy of it and and me back the check. So you know I had to ask why. He tells me that when they turn in all of the paperwork to the finance company, they want to see this "deposit" as a show of "good faith". As soon as he said that, I did not agree, but I told him I needed to go and I would call him the next morning.

I knew what he was doing sounded fishy, and pretty much knew it was illegal, but I figured I would call a couple of my "people" and get an official read on it. Indeed, it is fraud..... Obtaining monies through false pretenses is the official term, and being that I live in one state, and the truck was being purchased in another, it would most likely be a federal issue.

Next day, I called him back, told him the check thing was not going to happen, and that I was not going to be party to an illegal activity. He got beligerant and told me the deal was off. "BUt before we close the folder", he says, "let me call the finance company and see if this xerox copy is necessary". I told him ok. 10 minutes later, he calls me back and tells me that the finance company was ok with not having that document, but he had concerns with this deal because I had been a hassle and he thought it would be best if we just cancelled the transaction. He then said he would mail me a check, returning my deposit and it would go out on Friday. I said that was just fine. Game over Player One.

SO.... watch these people. They get you interested, they get you to send them a deposit (showing you are sincere before they go through all of the motions for financing), they tell you that you have been approved, they get you all excited about getting your truck, then they throw little things at you here and there, which by themselves are not that big of an issue, but cummulatively, they are. Then as they are getting ready to close the deal, they have you in such a frenzy (or at least they thought they had me) that you are willing to do anything to get the keys. Unfortunately for them, buying something like this is not an emotional event for me..... it is a business transaction..... and their little tactics didn't work. In fact, I think I sort of threw Max a curveball at one point because he started "almost" berating me and yelling at me. To which I responded that he better watch his tone of voice with me because he wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Be careful... I hope this LONG tidbit helps ya'll when it comes time.

ARF!!!!

Enjoy today's picture of the day.....