Tractor Recommendation

Go to PacLease, Ryder, Salem Leasing, Ideal Lease, or some of the other companies. If you lease by the month, or even 6 month lease, you can get a decent rate, and have no worries about repairs, and if any are encountered, they will supply you with a truck while your's is being repaired.

They will pay the road tax, permits, and insurance with the lease. Even though the price may seem more than buying, you have to count in all the things they pay and take care of that you don't.

One big advantage to this is low start up cost, peace of mind on truck repairs, and most of all, not having to tell your customers that the truck is broken down for the rest of the week. At most you should only be down a few hours with a lease truck till they repair or replace yours.

Do this for a while to make sure everything goes well with the new company. If the poop hits the fan, you just turn the rental back in.

 

I had an "old" KW T-2000 (Y2K model) and when I got out of it, it had 1.5 million miles on it with a Cummins N-14+ under the hood.
It was a good truck for the most part, but, the company I got the truck from handled the maintenance, and would not allow for proper repairs.
Basically, they forced me out of the truck so they could sell it to Mexico.

I missed that KW.
Of the company trucks I have driven that were Freightliners, one was a 06 Columbia which had severe electrical issues, and the other was a 08 Cascadia.
The Cascadia made me feel like I won the lottery whenever it started before 5 attempts.

My opinion, go with a low mileage KW

If you want a Volvo, check out Arrow Truck Sales. I've heard some decent things about them.

 

You say intrastste 99% of the time. If you are able to stay in NC 100% of the time, you will not have to buy an apportioned plate for the truck, saving time and money with the filings and cost of the plate.

I am assuming you have your own customers that must be fairly local, as deadhead can kill you. Over 2k miles in state will keep someone hopping unless everything is drop and hook, quick unload on one end, or the runs are pretty much going to the ports and back.

Have you ever owned trucks before or ran a trucking company? Maybe a dispatcher? What ever knowledge you have will have direct effect on your chance of success. Driving yourself for three to four months could hurt your time to conduct business unless you already have customers that pay quickly set up.

Back to the truck part. Unless you have a good bit of truck knowledge you can get burnt badly, and get hurt even worse after purchase by not knowing what to look for as far as needed maintenance before small repairs become major. Very few drivers you hire will know much either, unless you get older retired O/Os that may want to work, but not as much as they once did.

This is why I suggest a lease truck at first. I have leased three at one time just for the reasons I stated earlier. Some of the prices I paid at the time I leased were reasonable for what I got. You can ask for an older truck that is almost ready to be retired from the rental fleet and get a better price. It will still have the same maintenance and replacement options as a new lease truck, but at a lower rental price.

A used truck that you are making payments on, buying insurance, tag, plus paying for all repairs, including tires, can cost more per week than a lease. Quite a bit more if you have a few big repairs, or a lot of small ones. The big names also have their own fuel you can purchase and pay that bill with the rent. Ryder, Salem, Catawba Rental, and Penske have this. I have gotten better rental rates at PacLease at the KW dealer, and I think Ideal Lease at International has a good deal.

You will pay a set rate per week depending on what truck you want, and a set rate per mile. Negotiate on both rates. They will work with you if you are serious.

 

Go to KW and speak to them about their Pac Lease trucks. They may be more coperative. I can give you a name if you are interested. I also know someone that may have a cheaper good used truck or two to get started with.

 

Best idea if you are looking to just create some cashflow and have the credit rating to do so.....