Buying a truck.

Interesting questions. Financing is a mixture of a few variables. One is your credit score, another is your years of experience as an O/O. They will factor into consideration if you are leased to a carrier when you file the application. Finance officers are risk analyzers. They don't like to hear "I plan on"...yada, yada because that includes a higher degree of risk than someone who makes a SO-SO living with a carrier who is well established.
Higher risk means higher failure rate and that's something they attempt to forecast when approving a loan.

You COULD lease a truck on to a carrier then leave them when your authority comes active, but keep in mind your first 30 to 90 days is usually spent paying off required escrow accounts (yes, even on a new truck)
If you are planning on operating under your own authority, you are going to need 10's of thousands of dollars in your business account to pay for fuel, insurance (which will be through the roof as a new carrier) and other expenses as you wait for your accounts to be billed and the net payment terms to be met.

Unless you are an experienced O/O, you may want to consider staying with a larger carrier until you have the experience you need to successfully operate your business. In the blink of an eye you could wind up ruined and out of business.

 

It's going to be a commercial loan.

Quite different from getting a car loan. Different rules.

I will give you excellent advise. Read this closely.....DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THE TRUCK YET!!!

You need all the other questions answered first. Do you know how to run a business? Are you currently financially stable enough to run a business? What is your business plan? I can go on and on. Establish that first and foremost. You must do this. Get the shiney truck out of your head for the moment.

The truck is the last piece of the puzzle. That part is not hard.

Now you can thank me.

 

You probably need at least 15k in an emergency bank account for insurance fuel and repairs just in case

 

Get a truck spec'd like you want. Don't waste your time and money swapping rears in something that's off.

 

Do you know, how much your going to paying for Insurance? Been lots of threads here of individuals not being able to get first time insurance and when they do find someone, they are paying quite a bit .

 

Buying a truck is very risky because it is like a roulette wheel where 75% of the board is covered yet the number that pops out isn't covered. Just hope not to get a lemon. Make sure to dyno and have it checked out by different shops. I have gone through 20k to 30k in a month on one truck because of truck breakdown.

My advice is to put as little down as possible, conserve cash and have open lines of credit. The first 3 months will be very critical because many issues will pop up.

 

Arrow trucks sale ? My very first financed truck was with them. I bought a 2003 Freightliner Century in early 2005 with 450k miles, cummins ISX, pre EGR, with 10 speed manual. Had it dyno and checked out. Guess what, i towed it over 25 times and put in over 100k in repairs in 40 months. What a lemon. I dont blame Arrow Truck Sales, I blame my ill luck. Should of let it repo but didnt want to take a hit on my credit.