need opinion and fast!

option 5 above sounds good. I can tell you about Option 2 which my experience a very similar lease like that but the huge difference is mine was a brand new truck (with higher payment) and the revenue per mile was $1.15 plus fuel surcharge - both of which were paid on all miles including deadhead/empty (every little bit make a difference). You CAN or maybe better say COULD make money with option 2 but only if things go right when it comes to maintenance/breakdown. That is the scary part. When guys say you have to run continuously, yes I agree with that will be necessary to make that money work, maybe you are up for running continuously for 3 years with little hometime, most guys probably not but I think that's a personal choice rather than just dismiss as crazy. As for the truck, no expert here but 2013 truck with DEF/DPF with 500k miles means no longer covered under manufacturers warranty and what scares me is the unknown potential of breakdown/repairs/downtime. When I had the new truck, it ran continuously for almost 3 years then started to have some breakdown issues start cropping up towards the end of that time period. Trouble free until the end. I knew all maintenance done with the truck since it was new...do you know about that 2013 history? Bottom line the 2013 might produce some hefty repair bills, which would quickly eat up your profits which you better have been saving up for repairs...and who wants to save a nice chunk of money only to put to use for repairs. I also find it is hard to have these newer trucks fixed correctly anywhere you try to get them serviced, at least been my experience take in for repair, they get you back on the road but still problem not corrected and it crops up again. The numbers can work to make money but again I say only if you have reasonable maintenance cost on the truck which probably aint gonna be the case, brother. Oh yes you should get a better company job than .40-.43 cpm plus bonus, better jobs are out there with your experience and a clean record.

 

If you are asking to get help in a decision then it isn't a little risk.

 

If you got $31,000 in the bank, 9 for the truck, 2 for the plate, 20 for the rest, do it. What's life without a little risk?? It's not like you'll be $150,000 in debt like me. Just learn the markets and don't take cheap freight. If you are allowed to book your own freight, aim for at least $2/mi on 2500 loaded miles average. And no, that doesn't mean take these $500 loads. You can't do 2 loads in a day on spot market. Unless you get lucky and they're really quick and you're in a good market to get a late reload.

I've taken. $500 load and a $550 load in desperate situation when I had to. But normally nothing less than $800 very minimum on 300 miles or less. You might have to make and take 100 calls and wait til someone gets desperate.

If they find your loads for you, you make sure they're working hard to get you good paying freight. This is as much risk as buying that old jalopy. Just because your expenses will be lower than mine are, doesn't mean you should aim lower. Your goal for having your own truck is to make as much as possible. If you want home time and leisure, stay a company driver.

 

If you can drive it for awhile and see how it does then that might be a different story. And if it was overhauled properly but that's a big "if"