Going O/O: Which Truck to Buy?

Flatbed pays well, but you need to remember, flatbed is very physicsl, and just like trucking alone, it is a way of life in and of itself. It pays well, but if you hate it, the money ain't worth it. Companies like cypress, mc elroy, ct, melton are all good flatbed companies, get your feet wet. However, since you're with swift, get your 1 year experience there, don't job hop, that one yesr experience will not only look good on you, it will help you.

 

I wouldn't do this with 1 month of experience. Period. 2700 miles average isn't going to pay the truck payment and maintenance costs you're going to incur. I spent 1350 on diesel last week and most of that was spent fueling in Texas and Oklahoma, where diesel is relatively "cheap" and I shopped around. And as for the advice of what truck to buy, new or old, what engine or what transmission... dude brand new trucks will go 100 miles and crap out on you with the exact same frequency of a million mile truck or a half million mile truck. I was talking to a guy at the terminal the other day who leased a truck that had 8 miles on it when he signed the lease. It's got 1300 miles on it and has had the engine and egr system replaced in that time. He's now so far in the hole that he's got to turn the truck in. He can walk away from that lease. You can't walk away from that bank loan.

And while I knew from the first load that I took with my trainer that I would be doing this until I retire(at which time I'll be doing this in an RV), 1 month is absolutely not enough time to know for sure. You haven't even made your most costly errors yet. You haven't damaged any equipment yet, you haven't been royally ####ed on a load yet. You haven't even begun to learn to really manage your time yet.

What you're talking about is all good. You have the right idea with regard to going through the bank and having the lowest overhead possible. It's right to be researching this thoroughly. It is definitely not the right time to be doing it though, one month in.

Serious advice... work toward it and plan for it and research. Please do not buy or lease a truck 1 month in. 2700 miles, assuming absolutely no mechanical issues? 600 dollars net. Maybe.

 

And if you're driving for Swift, let me ask you... has your driver leader EVER told you not to take a load for any reason? Like too much time on the load, the load is going to an area with bad freight, no freight, will leave you sitting? If not, you don't even have the driver leader to be successful as an owner operator at Swift. The planners will #### you. They don't give a #### if you can pay that truck payment. You'll be competing with company drivers for the best freight. Who do you think will be getting the load offer of 1500 miles and 8000lb? Who do you think will be getting the 45000lb load down I70, over Vail and Eisenhower, down 15 and into California to sit in LA traffic and paying California fuel prices?

That's right. You will be getting the heavy ### load. And when you reject it. Sorry, take a seat. You're not a team player.

Spend some time making relationships with planners and your DM and learn which questions to ask. @Lepton1 will probably have some good advice in that regard. Namely not to buy a truck after a month, but moreso how to make money with Swift.

 

I was going to post this sooner but I asked for specifics first.

My cousin and one of my best friends went in to the o/o side of this industry semi recently. Prior to doing this he had 9 years Otr experience. He has dry van, pneumatic bulk, and flatbed experience. He saved money for 11 years, roughly 215k dollars.

Three years ago he bought a brand new truck. He bought a freight liner with a Cummings engine right off a showroom floor. Even with a fantastic 2% rate on the loan.

He jumped in feet first with about 100k in the bank to back him up (he also purchased used trailers of the sort he knew how to operate). In his first three months of operation his bank reserve was 78k. Why? He hit buckled pavement on a state road in Arkansas and broke his drive axle and 6 tires. That put him out for three weeks (injury and repairs). When it happened he was going 10 under the speed limit.

Four months after his truck was rolling again he started getting dpf issues from bad def (a common enough problem with loves def according to him). It was in and out of the shop with this problem several times. It cost him time, money, loads, and reputation.

After a year his backup cash reached 33k between downtime repairs and rental equipment.

After a year things smoothed out for him and he was offered a contract pulling for a broker Laredo to Michigan. His dpf seems to have had the gremlins ironed out and he's back in the green and saving cash. But remember 3 months in, unexpected trouble cost him 22k. And not long after a series of troubles depleted his savings by nearly 35k.

He overcame the obstacles and has succeeded, but he had 9 years experience and almost 115 thousand dollars in the bank. If he hadn't the first incident in Arkansas would have bankrupted him, the second could have as well. I thought this might put things in to perspective a little.

Me personally been doing this for five years now and I have hated it from six months in. You might want to pump the brakes on your decision a little bit and give yourself some time and experience with someone else's money

 

"Fleece"

*sniff sniff*

I smell Dave Ramsey.

 

I have done better on orrin woodward's financial advixe im 2 yesrs than i did with 5 years of dave ramsey's financial advice... dave ramsey is seriously over rated, i asked a question about raising my credit once and his followers jumped on me saying that i shouldn't be concerned with my credit, but they are wrong, i rent, i like the mobility of renting, i can say "i wanna live here now," bam i move without having to sell a house and worry about maintaining it myself, it ends up being way cheaper. However, I had better had a good credit score in order to get approved. I currently live in Virginia. knoxville, tn was okay, still not the best cost of living. Miami, fl was okay, it feels like another country lol, san diego was expensive, apache junction just outside of phoenix has been by far the least expensive cost of living and awesome riding trails.

Wow i went so left field, but you see my point in the mobility of renting versus buying?

 

Totally. I agree with the DR is overrated sentiment. Personal choice, just like his system is a personal choice as well.