Let’s say you buy a $50,000 truck for cash....

It's an avenue of research, not a recommendation.
The other guy is baiting me, which is when someone asks a question that they already know the answer to.

 

One option would be to look at something like Schneider choice program. It is a reasonably good fit for what you want to do. They only require you to pull 1 load every 30 days. Since you would own the truck, the cost would be fairly low.

 

Exactly you can live rent-free, and even paid to live somewhere if you know where.

 

If a new set of steers are going to break the bank if you were ahead then you shouldn’t be in business to begin with.

 

On business side. Remember you can write off thst truck pmt as a business expense. Might want to talk fo a CPA about the best way tax-wise for your truck. Purchase or fianance.

 

Even if the Trucks paid for, insurance costs, Truck and health, will still be due. 3 weeks out, 1 week home is easily done. I typically work 10 days, and 4-6 days off.Or 4-5 days out,2-3 days home. The only way to really get ahead, is to stay busy. But as soon as you’re parked, it’s costing money. IMO, if I have to constantly be working, time to switch Occupations. I work to live, I don’t live to work. I’ve done more than my share in the past.I like being able to park it, out of sight out of mind. Can’t do that with all Businesses. Have to be there everyday, or the help will either rob it blind, or run it into the ground.

 

A truck is one of the best write offs you can have , truck, tires, Fuel, chrome etc, all of it

 

Look dude, i wasn't yanking your chain but something you don't seem to want to get is advice comes in different forms.

I get where you are coming from and your goals, a lot of us been there and done that.

So don't blow your money on a truck so it is paid off, that is dumb.

Don't care what others say because they don't get to see failures, many are not prepared for reality and fail when the bills come due. May not be here but then the industry does have a 85% failure rate.

I would do a few things.

Insurance is the highest costs so look for a company to least to. This will get the bills paid and provide loads for you right away.

Finance part of the truck, 40 to 50% and bank the rest of the money for down time bills.

When you do that you have a cushion in case your truck craps out on you.

Then over a period of time, set a threshold for accerating on repaying that loan back.

Like say your loan is $21k, and your net company revenue is say ... $1000 a week, pull $500 out of that and put it in the loan pile to send in $2k a month on top of your payment. When you get two months worth of that money in the pile, the pay one month. Leave one month in the pile and the bank balance alone so pays the truck off fast with an additional cushion.

What many don't think about is downtime, which costs more than money, it costs time. Time is important and you want to keep a good amount of money on hand to either repair a truck or replace it.

So before you even consider what to buy, set yourself up for the business. Structure it to be easy to run, take time to get into good habits and get an accountant who knows how to train you in keeping it together,

And when you are ready to buy a truck, then do your Due Diligence,

This means don't get emotional about a truck, they are tools and are throwaway items.

This means following the process to find problems with any truck you are looking at, you want to find problems and work on negotiating the price down. This means a dyno and blowby, a mechanic to go through the truck, and you get the paperwork from a dealer and a full ECM dump.

This means don't trust but verify everything,

Having a truck with 300k on the clock is meaningless if it was junk coming out of the factory.

 

Know what? You have a point there.

 

@Lennythedriver - that’s about as nice as I’ve seen @Ridgeline for a long time, and with a few minor tweaks, mirrors my own potential advice.