New Owner Help Needed

The best advice to give is to talk to the finance company to take the truck back because it is obvious that he has no clue what to do.

 

Wow so it goes to prove even if you have done this for a while poor planning still wins. He obviously didn't have money put away.. How can anyone here help other than to tell him the obvious. Walk away and become a Company driver.

 

This. While i and others would have no problem making that payment, we have the benefit of being in business for 20 years. Not a single one of us would have succeeded if we had that payment as greenhorns.

Owning a truck has nothing to do with driving a truck. And 15 years of driving trucks for companies doesn't mean squat. A guy that has never been in business for himself has zero experience in the stuff that matters. Just to many very expensive lessons that have to be learned for a guy to make it under a 4200 dollar monthly nut. I don't care who you are, no one learns this business without screwing up, the ones that are still trucking in 5 years are the ones that were able to survive those early screw ups.

His only hope is to get rid of everything outside the truck that cost money and go on a beans and rice diet, and even then it's very unlikely he will make it. The best choice, that had the greatest chance of success is to get out from under that truck, save his money by taking the best paying job he can and try again in a few years when he has a nice big cushion in his checking account, but with a much lower cost truck. 1500 a month max on a good dependable truck.

 

That's why when somebody on this forum asks about becoming a truck owner and people tell him to get 3-5 years experience first, I always laugh. One can be a great cook for 30 years, but it does not mean he can run a restaurant. Having business sense/knowledge/experience is much more important than knowing how to drive a truck

 

Well they would do themselves a huge favor of getting company driver experience for 3 to 5 years before buying that first truck. It doesn't have so much to do with the business as it does just learning the basics of trucking - dealing with customers, backing, figuring out difficult situations, etc. Trucking in itself is a skill set that takes time to hone, perfect, and make efficient. You don't just start out skilled in it from day one.

Now, an added benefit of that time would be picking up (somewhat) on customers, freight, and lanes but for many they seem to drive a truck in some brain dead state forgetting about what load they did even yesterday so they haven't paid attention much. Some people are thick headed and don't pick up on things. There are no guarantees either way.

I will always tell a guy to get several years experience driving someone else's truck. And also that they need about $20,000+/- in the bank after buying the truck and starting up. That's how I did it and I have been doing it for almost 8 years now through some difficult times too. And have people tell me that is totally unrealistic and what do I know.

This business is about making your own luck as much as anything. Guys that started with zero experience and zero money succeeding, hats off to them, but I still say they would have greatly benefited from company driver experience and most certainly the success would have been a tad easier.

 

WOW..."someone" bought a truck, got in WAAAY in over his head, to the tune of 4,200 a month, now his ex comes on to the O/O forum and expects one of us to wave a magic wand and deliver pearls of wisdom that will suddenly melt his troubles away.
The real scary part is the op probably expected to read something that will turn her ex's operation around.

I'm getting popcorn.

 

Yeah really. A $4,200 monthly payment would be a tall order for someone experienced. Would never go home that is for sure.

 

Hey OP, go buy a 08 to 09 kw or pete with. C-15 cat. You find out REALLY fast why "knowing next to nothing about trucks or trucking" is going to sink your ship quick fast and in a hurry. Its a tough business being experienced, let alone not knowing ANYTHING. You'll learn at warp speed son.

 

$4200 a month is a lease purchase.
Turn the truck in.

 

I disagree, the driving of the truck is the easiest part, dealing with customers is also in there, this should be a six month thing. The driving thing should be also a time to look at bad habits and change them but for most they are encourage to be bad drivers by those companies they work for.

The few years of driving as a driver for a company could teach someone how freight works and where the customers go to get things moved. How the billing system works at the place and who is who. All of this can be picked up as a company driver, you don't go into a place and act like a zombie but actual have conversations, an important business skill.