1st year in business

Last year on December 4th I purchased my first truck at age 25. A 2008 Volvo VNL 630 with 749,000 miles. It was one of the lucky ones built in Jan 2007 so it didn't have DPF.

Here are my horror stories:

Day 1: First day doing Intermodal at CSX Winterhaven. Extremely nervous.... Picked up first container and as im pulling out a driver is running up yelling at me to stop... Get out... Power steering fluid everywhere. Blew a hose. ($60)

Week 2: Truck starts making a awful noise. Had to be towed. Come to find out when Freightliner Tampa sold me the truck the people who shipped it never tightended the steer tires lug nuts. (YEAH my right steer tire was about to FLY OFF) Truck needed new wheel hubs\lugs and studs. It was taken to Rush in Winterhaven and it only took 2 calls to freightliner threatening to lawyer up for them to cut a check. (They did the DOT inspection in house) Repair and tow bills covered in full. (Around $3200 including tow)

First Month: AC quits working... While driving I get a Low Coolant light. The cooling tube is so corroded its leaking. Luckily i have tons of water in truck. Took duct tape and zip tied it which stopped the leak enough to take it to rush. Ready for this..... ($900+) 1 cooling tube but ooooh well we had to retread the mounting slot because it was so corroded.

Month 2: Truck keeps slowing loosing coolant. Take it to Nextran Auburndale. Needs new Radiator, Expansion Tank, one of the egr hoses, new transmission feed and return lines and they diagnois the AC. Total repair would of been over ($6000). Paid over $3000 just because i didnt have them fix AC.

Month 4: I find a cool mechanic just a couple of years older then me on craigslist. Volvos are his specialty he says. Ended up giving him the nextran AC diagnosis and he fixed everything for ($1200)

Month 5: AC quits working. Take it to my guy he loads it up with Dye then I take it out for a week. It needs new Evaporator in the sleeper. While trucks there I get 2 new service hoses\glad hands and have 8 Gabriel Gas SLX shocks installed. New wiper blades also...Around ($700)

Month 6: Leveling valve is pissing out air... Another cheapish fix. Then 2 days after I get truck back a rear air bag blows lmao.... Dude fixed the leveling valve but I took truck to Nextran for the airbag ($450 total for both parties)

Month 7: EPG hose is leaking. D12 sounds like a jet engine while warming up. Simple fix though ($100)

Month 9: Front mudflap bar falls off on interstate and takes a chunk of retread off. Truck goes in for 90 inspection (Quit doing Intermodal at this point) and they fail me for the tire.. A running light (Definitely a harness issue) and a small air dryer line was leaking. Didnt want to drive to Tampa for repairs (I park truck in Orlando) so i screwed up again and took it to rush. ($511 for the harness and hose... Guess they had to replace tail lights as well because Volvo changed the prong design with harness) Took truck to Goodyear for a used tire. Found obe for $125.... $30 Install... Sure enough right on time... A handful of lugs were stripped. Had all 10 studs and nuts replaced at an additional $60

Did 2 PMs since Ive owned it so lets estimate another $600.

I got into driving at 22. (Werner ENT, Pullen Brothers, Save a Lot Dedicated)Went to Roadmasters at 21. Ive been on this forum lurking for years and talked to hundreds of drivers on the road. It's absolutely no joke how much big money it can cost to operate these trucks. At the end of the day im still here though!!!!! If you noticed also. The truck hasn't broke in 3 Months..... Hoping I have all the bugs worked out. Plan on going fully independent this year once I can trust the truck. Wish me luck

 

lol... Honestly though... At this point nothing is a surprise

 

When I was leased to the Intermodal company another guy there with a older Volvo 660 I believe, gave his local mechanic anywhere from $150-$250 a week as an escrow and he's still in debt...