Help understanding Peterbilt semi trucks

Good idea to have 2 trucks, just in case you wreck one. Just curious, why not buy 3 right out of the restaurant management field? Seems like if 2 is a good idea 3 would be even better?

 

I find it interesting how many people think buying a truck before they've had any actual experience driving one is a good idea. Are you familiar at all with the costs of operating a commercial motor vehicle (taxes, permits, etc)? Do you understand basic roadside maintenance you would have to do in order to keep roadside wrecker costs down? Do you have a company you are looking to lease on with, or are you going to operate as your own company? If you are going on your own, do you have a freight broker that can supply you with consistent freight?

I would say get some driving experience (1-2 years) before you decide to buy something. Most people these days who end up buying trucks end up folding because the costs of upkeep and operating are too much in our current freight market with such tight margins. Unless you have incredible business skills, I highly doubt you will be in the black for at least the first 8-10 months. ESPECIALLY if you buy something with emissions controls on it. Those have been nothing but a maintenance nightmare for most large carriers (with great maintenance staff) and cost WAY more than an older truck to keep up.

If you are still keen on buying a truck, I'd recommend finding something around 13-15 years old, that has just been rebuilt and comes from driver who is passionate about their equipment and has all the records to back it up (and is only selling because they physically cannot do it anymore). Those kinds of trucks (especially the Detroit Series 60 and mechanical CAT motors) consistently run a million miles with little to no problems, and can generally do a million more after a rebuild.

 

So clearly I was joking. I would start with one truck and run it yourself. 2 trucks run by God knows who is a good way to blow through $50k before you even learn anything.

Start with one truck, lease it on to Landstar or Mercer. Figure out how to run one truck. You'll be amazed at how much money goes out to keep it running.

 

Personally, I have no experience with owning a truck, but have read a ton from people here and from other sources (including one of my trainers who got into the game as his own authority, and went bankrupt because he bought a lemon Volvo with a big D15).

I honestly think the headache that comes with modern emissions controls isn't worth it just for warranty coverage. Your down time getting warranty work done is still time you aren't making money (my company for instance is REPLACING the exhaust treatment system on a year old truck, so it's sitting, not making them any money).

If you run, say, a $15-20K truck that's been well-maintained for 15 years, that's past 1 million miles and just been rebuilt (from anecdotal evidence I've read) you'll be replacing a head gasket or injector here or there every once in a while (read: 50-100 thousand miles). So you'll be shelling out a few thousand when that happens and be down maybe 3-4 days.

With some more modern, especially used and fleet-owned, those things are beaten to hell and back by new drivers. You'll run into problems on top of those already presented by the emissions controls and be losing far more money just sitting waiting for parts to ship (I've seen a lot of stories about some of these 3-4 year old trucks not having most emissions parts kept in stock at even dealer shops, and drivers waiting up to a week for repairs).

The most important piece of advice I've read from owner-operators is buy a truck that is reliable. The more time you spend driving is more money in the bank. If that means you have to buy a run down '00 Freightliner Classic with a S60 Detroit sitting at 1.2 million miles that has faded paint and a rough ride... then do it. Making money is the most important thing in the O/O world, and I'm sure there are posters here can attest to their investment capital up and disappearing right from under their nose due to unforeseen maintenance costs that come up out of the blue.

And if you have the money, look at a glider. You get the comfort of a modern truck with the reliability of an older engine. My company runs several (they take the engine out of the older truck that gets wrecked/written off and put it into a brand new truck) and they are only ever in the shop for minor issues, and almost never out on the road (my company runs a strict preventative maintenance program that usually keeps them in working order with a good driver).

Anyways, this post is starting to drone on even for me so I'll end it there.

 

Welcome to the sarcasm that is all over truckers report! One thing that you need to think about is your ability to stay afloat. Do you have your own corporate entity set up? Do You have business credit? Do you have $20000 to $40000 saved up.If you don't have those in place just know that you are running lean and you could be one disaster away from failure.A lot of owner ops don't handle their business like above. But as a fleet owner, you have to have all your ducks in a row business wise.