please advise

Don't do it,, been there done that,,the only way to make any money doing that is you have to get your own authority and find your own customers, using brokers and leasing on to a company is a sure slow financial drain, the larger carriers love there lease to own programs for a good reason, you should put your cash into your home or wherever you feel comfortable with ,you said you have many years experience so it should not be difficult to find a comfortable cushy job running a company truck if your creds are clean they are out there

 

Earnies, I agree with Radar on getting your own authority. It is easy and relatively cheap if you do it yourself. It will take about 45 days for it to become active and you will need insurance and a BOC agent.
If you are a good mechanic, I would go for about a 2002 or 2003. May go as new as 06, but the less emissions the better as long as you do not want to run California. Buy a clean used truck in those years, and pull oil and coolant samples before you buy. I am running N-14s, no emissions as in, no EGR/DPF. We do all of our own work including inframes and body work. Buy the used truck, than take it home, and fix anything it needs. Want to paint it, do it. New brakes and drums, get er' done, check steering king pins etc, just fix anything that even looks like it needs it. Put new tires on etc. I run three this way, with drivers, and they are like the energizer bunny compared to friends trucks who seem to always have an egr valve or egr cooler problems. Being they are a little older, I do pull them into the shop every time they roll home and check them out well.

If you do not want to take the time and go through it yourself and do the work yourself, than get as new as you can afford, and avoid the years you stated. An 03 is only going to be as reliable as you have prepared it. Remember an 2010 or 11 can have as much wrong with it as an 02 or 03. The other advantage of buying an 02 or 03 and fixing it up, is if you do the work yourself, you can keep a good cash reserve for operating and start up expenses. Just posting what worked for me, but there are many ways to be successful, just have to be smart and follow a good business plan. Like everyone else here, I have learned plenty from Hard Knocks University.

 

I am getting about 6 mpg pulling flatbed. . I don't get targeted anymore than anyone else. Actually maybe a little less, but if you look at my avatar, that is one of my trucks. They are polished, and painted to match. Tires replaced at around 30% tread, most of my ties are at 70% or better. Good looking equipment with good tires and all the lights working, along with properly secured loads is why I think we get so many green lights. I keep a close eye on my brakes, and check the auto slack adjustors regularly to make sure they are operating correctly. Brakes come off at about 50% for new linings. Last brake job was about 600.00 for the parts doing it myself. That was 4 new rear drums and linings. Reason I am saying this is that before you ever hit the scale shack, your license plate has been scanned, and by the time you reach the scale house, they have your DOT number, and your safety score in front of them. If you have a high maintenance score, you are likely to get pulled in. Same with log book violations. Run legal and clean, and you don't really get bothered. Every once in a while you will get someone with a stick up you know where, but in general they are pretty fair.

Pulling a flatbed, your mileage is going to suck. Aero dynamics will help, along with watching your speed, but in general very hard to get over 7mpg loaded. Anyone who says they do it regularly is either driving at 50, or telling you tall tales. We run with some guys with the newer engines, and they get about 3/4 mpg better mileage but they lose the advantage if we are in mountains or out west, as they work there engine harder on all the hills, where with 500 hp, and no emissions, the engines work less hard.

 

If your heart is set on a "good" aero truck I would suggest you want a cherry T800. 2nd choice would be a T600. Heck, to my eye, if I look at a W900 or a Freightliner Classic or an Autocar from the right angle they look kinda aero (the hoods are kinda slopy). And while we're talking about aero, you may as well get a flat top or a mid roof since you're pulling a flat (no point in pushing all that wind with a high rise bunk designed for making vans more areodynamic).

And no reason to buy anything newer than 2003 IMO. 1994 might be better.

 

I've never thought that and I drive and '86 and a '98. It's not how old it is, it's how old it looks.

 

everything Greg said is spot on

 

If you've got that kind of budget, why not buy a good, older truck in the $20k-$40k range and rebuild the truck? Since you're a mechanic you could do a lot of the work yourself and save a ton of labour costs. I'm doing that with a vintage W900 right now. Building it for hauling RV's and possibly some hot shot work if the patch ever picks up.