Resources to buy a used truck

I bought a TMC truck. Cosmetically they take good care of them but won’t release service records for liability reasons. I couldn’t get away to look at it so I purchased it sight unseen. It was agreed that it would be delivered to the local Peterbilt dealer where I could hire anyone to inspect and test drive it. After I purchased it I had it delivered to the Peterbilt dealer in Texas and told them to go over it with a fine tooth comb. It had about 4K miles on an inframe, dpf filter, reman trans, new clutch, pressure plate, new disks and pads and 10 new virgin tires. The inframe was extensive. The block, crank and connecting rods were reused and that’s about it. $30k in parts. Came with the paperwork and a 200k mile warranty from Cummins. I chose to spend money up front hoping to alleviate down time. I’ve put 60k miles on it since September and she hasn’t missed a beat.

 

If they don’t have the receipt , the work didn’t happen .

i bought a couple of trucks from Ryder.
They had all the Maint records available .


Another Avenue is to talk to a independent ship that works on a lot of trucks .
They have regular customers and they know the trucks , since they have worked on them for years .
And they know which ones might be for sale .

I bought a couple that way too . you should plan on spending at least $10k on whatever truck you buy .
New virgin tires and new brake drums and shoes and new hoses and belts will run $10k easy .

And you want that done before
You hit the road .

What’s your budget ?

i know a company that sells their W900L’s when they reach 500k or five years , whichever comes first .
They take very good care of them , oil change every 10k and a DOT annual inspection every week, they usually have a waiting list of buyers , but it’s a small outfit , they only sell one or two a year .

alot of people suggest getting a rig from an owner operator but in my experience they usually skimp on the maintenance . but either way , if they don’t have records
And receipts ,
That’s a red flag , because those receipts are tax deductible expenses and you know they’ve got them in a file somewhere .

 

Very sound advice.

 

Schneider sells used trucks, they can finance them too. Usually Freightliners.