My lease adventure

I'm sure we had some spot market loads earlier this year due to covid. Just nothing crazy good.

 

Talk about a couple days from hell. Last weekend I had an issue with my fifth wheel that caused me to drop my trailer. Apparently there was some metal stuck in the mechanism that prevented it from locking. I was able to get that out and had to pay a tow truck to come lift the trailer back up. The tow truck got itself stuck trying to back up to the side of my trailer so we had to use the landing gear to pull him out LOL. Luckily we were able to get the trailer back on the truck and secured. The only damage was both glad hands were severed off as well as the electrical connector from the truck to the trailer and both mud flap mounts on the truck were severed off as well as a whole poked in the air supply line for the fifth wheel. The tow truck was $375 to just come across town a couple miles and lift my trailer up. Freaking ridiculous. Still waiting on the repair bill so hopefully it isn't too bad. I just count myself lucky cuz it could have been a lot worse. Here is December's numbers as well as the numbers for the year.

 

Wow three years in business and still kicking.
This year was a pretty good year for me. I was able to get several important milestones achieved. I got
my first piece of equipment, got my spending habits in check, and got my business situated on the office
side. This journey has been a wild ride and I think I finally have my ducks in a row. Just goes to show you
that running a business effectively and efficiently takes time. The main thing I learned this year was how
much was involved with the back office work and how much I was screwing it up lol. Now I wasn’t
messing it up to bad but it showed that I needed a professional keeping my books. My biggest problem
was motivation to stay on top of my books. By the time I get done for the day or the week all I wanted to
do was relax and that was a major problem.
So lets take a look at my numbers for the year. Personally even though I earn an extra 10% having my
own trailer I still grossed in the same area I did the last two years. I think that had a lot to do with Covid
for me. There was a couple months where the loads were paying crap and I was just barely scraping by.
My net also stayed in the same area. I had a lot of expenses this year with turning in my old truck and
repairs on my trailer among other things. It just goes to show you the saying is true, “you won’t get rich
doing this.” None the less I enjoy what I do and am successful at it.
I have some big decisions to make when it comes to my trailer this year. It really needs new curtains and
doors so the question is do I spend around $8,000 repairing and old trailer or put that money toward the
purchase of a new or used trailer in better condition. On one hand the my trailer has a couple more
years in the deck before it needs replacement. Doing the repairs will make it easier to sell later on.
On the other hand getting a new trailer would be the last trailer I will need for a long time and I would
get one eventually anyway. But, it also means a much higher monthly payment.
On another hand getting a different used trailer could save on a monthly payment and possibly last at
least a few years before needing major repair. Having to make these decisions sucks lol but it is part of
being an O/O.
So based off my numbers this year I am setting two goals to accomplish this year. First I want to get the
trailer situation handled and second I want to get at least $10,000 in cash saved up toward my “what if”
fund. This will get me in a comfortable place to start looking into buying a truck. I am already 2k toward
that goal but after last weeks oopsy I think there is going to be a big dent in that lol.

 

So what is everyone's opinion on my trailer situation? Should I get a used one in better condition, or maybe just fix the one I've got, or just break down and get a new one

 

My current trailer is a 99.

The deck only has a couple years left before needing replacement. The curtains are on there last leg and it needs the doors replaced. I haul general flatbed and dry van freight. My thoughts are it would take around 5 -7k to replace the doors and curtains and I can get a couple more years out of the trailer to save money to get something else. But I could also use that money towards getting a different trailer.