Buying 87 Freightliner

so did you get the truck? if so which motor and tran. is in it?

 

BUMP!

Well, did you get it yet?

 

LOL I did haul onions on a step deck from North Dakota to New York before.

 

Seen that done quite a bit.

 

Never again PERIOD . 20 lb sacks stacked on a pallet had to tarp and strap down. It was snowing when we were getting loaded.

 

I would be asking questions and getting their story as to exactly WHY it sat for 3 years. Not too many people leave a perfectly good running truck sitting for 3 years. Was it even inspected? Were plates and regristration kept up on the truck during the time it sat?

I really would look over it really good before buying it. It's not that much different than buying a used car, from a tote the note lot. They all say what they got to, in order for you to buy it then you go home and something breaks down on it. Then they play stupid about it. I mean seriously, think of what you are going to spend just to acquire it. I could almost bet you some money within 6 months you will replace something major.

 

Also, it's good and all that you got a company to lease it to now, and everything like that. Have you considered what you might be told about the truck elsewhere? You know, should things so south with that company? There are lots of companies that wouldn't even blow their nose in a truck that old, let alone let someone lease it on.

I had a relative once who bought this truck, first piece of junk he saw. Paid $14,000 cash for it. He had already been approved for a much nicer, newer truck which he could have financed, and used the money he paid to buy the junk he bought as a down payment. He did not do that.

He then leased this 1993 KW W900 on with a company here in Houston. Thinking "I got my own truck, I am in the money now". He made $46,000 (a little over that really) and that was it. His total earnings for that entire year, running his own truck. Now you go back to that, back out all of his fuel, insurance, tires he had to buy during that year, maintenance he had to do (lots of junk broke on it during the time he had it) he spent $3,000 at one whack once getting just small things done. All was said and done, he figured he brought home not even half of what he made for that year. And it was very believable. His mother in law was paying his rent, which was $1,000 a month. Granted now, he was hauling containers, he thought that was where the money was. He normally did not work any weekends, but was home at least 1-2 nights per week.

Finally he sold the truck. He decided that owning his own truck was not the thing for him, and he sold it. He did not even get half of what he paid out of it. Even with all the things he did replace, and repair on the truck from the time he bought it. He only got $6,500 out of it. And it was like pulling teeth for him to get that.

Now, he KNEW the company he was leased to was not a good company. He learned this after the fact, after he had worked for them a while. But he was at a loss. Why you ask? No other company around here would touch his truck. One company would have let him, but he had to have a headache rack for it to pull a flatbed. The terminal manager of this particular company agreed to buy the headache rack for him, $700 from what the terminal manager said. So long as he used the title to his truck as collateral. Naturally, red flag went up in his head with that one. He thinks the guy was going to take the title and run, and sell the truck. Which may have happened because not even 2 weeks later, that terminal of the company he wanted to lease to was closed.

Point being, it may seem all good to you now. You might be sitting thinking of making some big money with your truck. Making your own rules and all else. But you have to realize, it just isn't so. You are a broker, you know exactly what brokers do to truckers. Your job is to get the freight moved for cheap. That truck you are looking at, no offense, doesn't look like cheap is going to cut it. That has trouble written all over it. If you are going to buy a truck, at least do not jump for the first hunk you see with dry rotted tires, that has set for years. There will be lots of things eventually kicking you in the rear at one time or another. The kicks you will regret the most will come from your own foot.

Just think of it, a head job, that isn't cheap. That could easily be more than you paid for the truck possibly. Say that happends in the first even 5 months. You will almost invest more in the truck than what it has made you already even in that time frame. Basically a money pit. Between the cost of parts, labor, down time, and everything else. You will be losing money before ever making any. If you got the money, why not get a newer, dependable, more economical truck? You may say 1987? Other companies when they say, well what kind of truck you got? You say...oh it's a 1987...you might hear this, or , or just a flat out . Then you have no choice if you can't find anywhere to put it to work to let it set, or try to sell it. Then if you are left with trying to sell it, you may not get anywhere near what you invested in it.

I personally would not care if the engine had just been rebuilt. As you said, it was started now and then but no where near what it should have been. It sat for 3 years, I could care less if the engine was brand spankin new when they parked it. NOBODY in their right mind does that, right?

Wish you luck if you are going to buy it, but hope you really seriously think about it before. I would look for another truck myself, newer, more dependable, economical, etc.

 

How is it a definite deal if you don't have a definite price?