Preparing to buy first truck and need advice!

I don't want you to think anything I have said or may say is rude or discouraging, but just want to give you things to think about. The trucking business is not an easy one. More people go by the wayside than what most realize. I think from the way it sounds you are going about this better than most. The key to business /life is to not overextend yourself and make decisions based off of emotion.

 

CRST Malone dispatchers DO NOT dispatch! Most likely, on the rare occasion they offer you a load you can bet that it pays crappy and no one else wants the load. By the way, I saw your other post that said you are looking for drivers to pay 23-25% of gross profit. If the load pays $2.00/ mile and your cost is $1.00/ mile then the driver is only making .23-.25/ mile. Also, your figure that you came up with for maintenance is low. Expect the '06-'08 model year trucks to cost you $.10-.12/ mile. At 2500 miles a week that's $13,000-15,600 per truck per year, or $36,000-46,800 per year for three trucks.

Here's a quick bit of decent advice I can offer you from running quite a few different trucks over my career. Every used truck you look at (no matter what the price) will require quite a bit of maintenance up front over the first 2-3 months, and periodically it will hit cycles of excessive maintenance also for a period of 2-3 months. Any truck built after 2003 is less reliable because of EPA mandates. The trucks screw up and the shops don't know how to fix them, they weigh more, they get worse fuel mileage.

Honestly, think outside the box. An old truck with a rebuilt engine will be a lot cheaper and more reliable than a newer truck with 500,000 miles on it. Also, instead of trading it off, take it to a shop and have it rebuilt including the interior (new seats are good for the driver). Completely redone will cost less than $50,000 and it's better than a brand new truck, and more reliable too.

 

I was looking up about a engine miss and started reading this tread, So what ever happened????

 

it looks like it never got off the ground....Haulhand put a curse on him after Supergrumby yelled at him

 

Your a train wreck waiting to happen in my opinion

strike 1, doing a partnership uh yeah good luck with that
strike 2, going into debt to fund this NEVER A WISE MOVE
Have u bothered to check out all workmans comp costs (try 7k per driver at startup) legal dot crap, drug pools ect youll have to keep track of for each driver

What happens one of ur drivers gets in a wreck and its his fault? Checked out ins costs? Then tring to actually find 3 drivers with good driving records to keep ins costs down

ur in la la land if u think all this is going to work out like ur planning lol

 

You realize you are responding to a thread almost a year old and it's already not worked out?

 

You just ruined his fun.

 

I am new to the forum... I have worked in the trucking industry since 1999 strictly as a non driver. I am about to get behind the wheel for the first time.
I am very interested in these types of ventures... I too am a business man, however, I am in no way interested in o/o at this tender point. I will be a company man for a long time to come...
I am following some of these posts to see how these ventures work out. Does anyone know whether this deal worked out for this guy or did it go pear shaped?
I welcome a chance to speak with some trucking veterans who can assist me with my learning curve.