Which truck would you take? HELP CANT DECIDE

This guy is going into all wrong. He thinks he is going to spend 40 g's on a used truck. Then start paying out the loan to family. Dude you will sitting paying these shops 90 bucks an hour to work on your junk. Look at all these guys crying about how cheap the freight is. I doubt if you have been driving for 5 years if you think you can pay back that loan pulling a dry box. Half of the good companies have restrictions on how old your truck can be, and those old trucks you put up there wouldn't pass the smell test. Please for heavens sake if your family is putting a loan on their mortgage so you can gamble with a used truck. Don't do it. Use your own money to throw away. I also seen you asking about own authority. Then you need a trailer and money for all the permits etc. If your family don't have money to throw away stay a company driver until you can save up your own money to lose in buying a used truck.

 

Good advice, but I doubt he's gonna pass on the forty thousand handout.

 

taking a mortgage out against a house on a semi.

If you break down and can't work the truck, you can't pay for the truck, you are stuck with a broke truck and they take the house.

 

then you are totally missing the point.

Trucks are not "IF" they will break down. Just when.

I spent $3300 in maintenance alone this month. Bunk heater ($830), Batteries,($420 and that's cheap batteries) 4-trailer Tires ($1100 on recaps) and tomorrow I am running my overhead ($350).

Since July when I bought this truck, I have spent $12,400 in maintenance alone. Two weeks after I bought the truck and the first 7000 miles I drove it, I scrubbed a set of steers off and was working on a set of loaner tires before I could get all the parts in for king pins.

A month later, I am dishing out $1100 for an exhaust man gasket.

That's not even major items yet.


I have a list of another $6000 in repairs I still have to do. Plus before fall, I am looking at a complete set of drives. If I go with all recaps, $1800. If I go with Virgins, at a minimum, $5500.

And I still haven't even come up with money yet should I toast a turbo, engine, rear end, brakes or transmission.

Play it however the hell you want. You are getting a touch of reality on what that truck is GOING TO COST you.

Now you want to look at a truck with DPF, DEF or the EGR on it,

What do you know and understand about component service life?

How much work can you really do yourself. Realistically too. Heck, just last week I dropped $250 on two electrical system tools. A battery load tester and an inductive amp probe. Are you ready to spend $200-300 per month on tools too?


And I run a dry box too. Get all my loads off of ITS or CH Robinson load boards. Doing about as well as your buddies too. Averaging 7500-9500 miles per month too.


The ONLY THING that's true about all 4 of those trucks is that they are all a crap shoot. Anyone of them will do for you what you want it to do.

Just some of those will leave you with a greater cash reserve when you break down.

 

It sounds like you have made up your mind that you want to purchase a truck. That is a good thing. I bought one earlier in the year. I asked for advice and I got all sorts of advice, mostly "This isnt the time". I have heard that for years and years. My truck that I got is a 2010 Century (for Carb compliant). I average about 6.83mpg and have the DD15 motor. I checked it out and looked at it a bunch of times before I bought it. I was also looking at a 2006 KW 900. I absolutly loved the KW but I crunched numbers and I was gonna put more in my pocket with the Century.

Your gonna get people trying to discourage you, they arent wrong, but they arent right either. The thing I think you should do is look at lots of trucks and narrow it down from there, drive a ways to look at one that interets you. There are good buys out there. Check the internet and all of that too. I listen to Kevin Ruthaford of Road Dog Trucking on Sirius and I have learned a lot from that program. I dont agree with everyting he talks about but I have learned a bunch. He always talks about doing a RIG Dig report then pull the ECM info, then have it inspected by a mechanic. I didn't buy two different trucks because of one thing or another. I am very happy with my truck and I am making money with it.

P.S. It isn't all gravy out there but you have to take the good with the bad (and have a extra money for the bad).

 

If you're borrowing money from family to do this you're making a huge mistake. What is the hurry? Take a couple of years to save up some cash and do it the right way. You think $1.70 a mile is good??? You'll struggle to average a $1.55 your first few months if you're lucky. Running 48 states? How in the world can one learn a specific market quickly if they're running all over the country? Longhaul48 states with a dry van is a good recipe for consistent cheap rates.. As far as what everyone says about maintenance costs with used trucks get ready cause you're gonna be borrowing more from family. Really if you get walluped with some biggies right at the start you'll see why $1.70 is no fun at all. I'm in the middle of swapping out a leaky radiator under "warranty" right now. New one will cost nothing but it doesn't cover the labor,nor the $3,000 in lost gross income, nor the 360 mile round trip to Atlanta in my personal vehicle to get the replacement. Lucky me I didn't have to ask my brother for a loan... the road to hell is paved with good intentions you've been warned.. don't come back whining about how they force you to accept cheap rates if you are unwilling to set yourself up for success..