If you had $70K to start on your own would you buy outright or finance?

you are 54 now, and in short time, you don;t want to do a dam thing.(according to you, above)

buy paying off in full may sound great on the surface, you will quickly bore of the ownership of a truck, as you have nothing to work for.

what i mean is, sure you'll be earning a paycheck, even banking some. but you will not have any desire to actually work since you will not have a bank to answer to to repay that loan you should have.

you'll wanna take time off, LOTS OF TIME, and that truck will sit, all the while, the insurance and taxes are still due each month....see what i mean???

paying cash, gives you NO REASON to get off your butt and go to work each day.

you want validation for what YOU want to do, and i WILL NOT GIVE it to you.

 

why is that a bad thing? There’s more to life then running a truck down the road, as long as he pays insurance/plates etc How much profit on top of it is all up to him.

fwiw, it’s almost $100 a calander day just to have the truck Ready to go to work, so make sure it’s budgeted If you do want to take time off, personally I have been taking a week every ten weeks or so to go through and fix any problems/maintenance on my truck/trailer, so it’s not really a week off, I just don’t get paid for any of it.

 

I’ve owned 5 trucks and never had a payment. That said, I would invest the $70k elsewhere and work as a company driver, maybe local, with benefits.

However personally I love my freedom and enjoy what I do. So, with $70k I would buy a 2014 cascadia from Ryder (I just bought one with 400k miles for $27k problem free so far). Let’s assume maybe $33k for truck. $2k apportioned plates, NM, KY permit, HVUT. Now we at $35k. A bit more thousand for the “unicorn” update. Followed by buying a trailer, used so you don’t pay that crazy tax. As close to new as you can get. So around $20k for dryvan, more for a full aluminum spread axle flatbed. Don’t buy a reefer. Still money left to pay insurance all at once, and a bit saved in the bank.

As far as an older pre emission truck, I have 3 and they are solid trucks now, but weren’t when purchased. There is so many things that go wrong until you’ve owned them long enough where they become reliable. Even if it’s just a $10 fitting or part, it’s still going to destroy the day depending where in the country you are. I truly believe a newer truck, with the prices so low since the economy tanked, is more likely to be successful.

 

With 70k i would get something 99 or older. A good bones truck for 15k and go thru it with a fine comb and fix everything on it. Finance a brand new trailer. And get own authority. Run spot market and work on building up relationships with brokers. Until u can find a decent lane to run and get ur own customer

 

Have to agree with this perspective. Almost sounds like you are buying a job.

 

Someone that isn’t motivated enough to leave the house because they don’t have payments is probably better off staying a company hand. I have very minimal payments but I still go to work most of the time. When you don’t have payments, and you have a truck and trailer, you start building money real fast. And I kind of like money. So the more I save the more I want to work. Until I don’t want to work. Like this week. I don’t want to work this week, so I’m not.

 

What does your mechanic friend say about buying a truck?

 

It gives me the impression he/the OP has allready decided what to buy and he/the OP just wants us to endorse his choice.
Not the bussiness mindset you need or want.
You want to buy the truck that is right for what your needs are.

I have never bought a truck with resale value in mind.
You never know what will happen in the future,so why count on resale value?

Your reply does lessen my worry about your attitude.

You say the heavy stuff will not be done by you but at a shop.
For me that rules out a pre emissions truck.

For more advice we would need to know where you are planning to run.
What kind off work?
How many miles in 1 year?
Weight to be loaded?(do you need a superlight truck?)
When do you plan to stop working?
Which brand has a good dealership near you?

 

I would go pre-emission. But at the same time those trucks will not have a resale value eventually. The new age trucks and drivers are going automatic transmissions.



Paying insurance once a year or 10 monthly payments, would only save me the $5.00 monthly process fee.

I would buy a truck from an owner operator that is retiring NOT being forced to sell.

Maintenance and repairs will cost a lot if you outsource all of it. If you don't have tools to do it yourself. Tools will cost a lot.

At 54, I would keep doing what your doing. It sounds successful. It takes about 5 years to get that old trucks parts changed that are wore out.

Then you will be near 60 and may feel like "slowing down". So all you might have done is spent your $70grand to keep yourself busy.

Good luck