Some numbers for new O/O

I got it

 

If I paid others to work on my old Truck and fix all the little things that are constantly needed. It would be cheaper to buy a new one. Mechanics aren’t cheap and all too often not Compitent. Good ones are hard to find at good price usually booked up not looking for any more customers in today’s environment.And it’s gonna get worse hourly rates are already pushing $130 hr Everyone’s buying a truck. I see a bubble about to burst. A lot of guys are gonna be dust in the wind when they can’t make big pymts on Truck and ins. And a paycheck. Add increased maintenance and still owing 3 yrs of big pymts . Parties over . And they’ll blame everyone but themselves. Hopefully not lose everything they had when they started out in the process.Not being a pessimist but seen it happen firsthand And it happens fast while your working harder than ever

 

I listened to a decent video on YouTube tonight on this subject but it’s not as intense on the repair/maintenance. There’s plenty more on YouTube covering the subject in greater detail than what you might find on this forum
Here’s a Link for the MakeCents trucking video:

And here’s a link for “An Analysis of The Operational Costs of Trucking” (from 2016 but this will provide insight): http://atri-online.org/wp-content/u...perational-Costs-of-Trucking-2016-09-2016.pdf

 

You don't have to worry about warranty, at 2.2m you're way out.

I think you are misleading the op that a old truck never takes more than a day to fix.

Conventional trucks are more open under the hood to work on(if repairing constantly) but the dramatically higher cost of fuel consumption greatly outweighs that benefit too..

Not to mention, the PM intervals on older trucks was MUCH shorter. What's your oil change intervals? 10-15k?
I'm at 35-40k , spend $450 on 5-30 synthetic and analysis, the oil is still fantastic when dumped. It has lower wear metals and soot than my older trucks that had to be PMd much more frequently. The truck is a 16' Volvo w factory bypass oil filter.(3 oil filters)

A properly specd new aero truck like a Volvo XE , Cascadia EVO , T680 advantage X15E will often get 2+ mpg better than a non aero classic. That's a crap ton of money, usually in a month it'll make a huge chunk of your truck payment in fuel savings alone.

"Properly" specd is a key term, there are still plenty of idiot dealers putting traditional specs in modern trucks that will dramatically lower fuel economy. Example would be a traditional rear ratio vs modern... 3.25-3.73 vs 2.25-2.85.

Also wrong engines like putting a X15 performance series 565/1850 in a Volvo -vs- the 500/1850 X15 Efficiency. Dealers can take the same body truck with bad specs vs good specs and see a 1+ mpg difference, exact same body. That's a crap ton of fuel !

Not slamming the BEAUTIFUL classics that I love.... , that's just the business reality of it.

Some guys buy a truck for the looks, some buy them for business ... And some try to find something in between... That's a personal decision for your business but I'd recommend squeezing profit before you buy the "large car". Then you understand what the truck costs A vs B.

 

The #s don’t lie as they say. Projected profits vs actual profits are two different things. I prefer actual. The point I was trying to make is I prefer an older Truck. However if someone hasn’t the ability to do minor repairs themselves better off with New Truck. 2 mpg increase for me would add up to around $1500 mo. Hardly enough to cover pymt and labor costs associated with the newer Trucks.I crunch #s as a hobby. At the end of the day what you make is what’s left.I don’t believe in getting rich once the Truck is paid off. Never works that way due to increased maintenance cost and reduced Value ( resale) . The only real way to know what you make ( made) IMO is in retrospect due to the unpredictable Repair costs. Looking back 1 yr 2 yr etc at revenue. I have been Lucky I suppose I’ve never had a Truck this old (18 yrs) . Any truck over 3 or 4 yrs and 500-700 k has roughly the chance of mechanical failure as my Truck.However thing like bushings motor mounts and minor repairs are part of running an older Truck.I honestly can’t believe the Service I’ve gotten from my old Truck. The thought of keeping one over a million miles used to scare me. But I’ll run this one till I retire

 

1500 a month plus 11k a year on maintenance, I think I read your post right. thats 29000 a year. Thats the payment for a new truck or #### near close to it. Thats real close to the numbers I found for a full service lease too. Id be willing to pay extra to have a brand new truck and for the peace of mind.

 

He's not misleading at all. Of course a major assembly failure would be more wait. Odds are you're going to wait a lot longer at a dealer versus DIY or a trusted independent shop. Most of that due to waiting in line, not the time it actually takes to do a repair. Unless you're leased to a big carrier that gets priority, you're not an important customer at any dealership.

What I'm not seeing in either of your projections is the opportunity cost for your dealer visits for everything. Two trips a year for something that takes a week vs a day and now you're talking 2 x $5,000+ depending on what you're hauling at what rate. Not to mention the cost of availability/customer goodwill for being unavailable. Or the cost of losing a run to the guy that picks it up while you're in the shop. That is, unless you're equipped and set up to roll out in a $1,500/wk rental to keep the business up. Oops that costs money too.

To be fair, there is one guy I follow on FB that is getting it right with new trucks. Except his edge is he's a 30-40 truck fleet and does all his service in house. He's also developed some contacts with Volvo/Mack to do some special truck specs and trial some experimental builds. I don't have the purchase leverage to get to that level, and frankly don't have the nerve or need to take a gamble on a $150k truck with my 2 truck fleet and hope it works out for me too.

 

I guess I've been lucky thus far with my new Volvo purchase in December 2015.

I've only had 2 issues in 295,000 miles, both covered by Volvo. A steering shaft recall, they towed the truck on a Saturday and had it back to me on a Wednesday and actually paid me downtime.

The second was the Bendix air compressor gave up the ghost, they had a tow pick up the truck on a Sunday at my house and had it ready on Tuesday morning.

When I first got going as an owner operator I bought a 2010 truck. I could see right away that thing was going to nickel and dime me to death. I made an aggressive move to dump it and get into a new truck.

For ME, it was the best move I could of made. I paid $134,500 for a new 670 with owner operator specs. I financed $121,500 at 5.5% through the SBA.

I put a 7 year note on it to lower the payment so that I would have a little breathing room the first year or so while getting my feet underneath me as an independent.

The payment is $1,745. However, what I've done is pay extra every month, sometimes a little more when I could. As a result, I've closed the gap on the ammortization schedule from a 7 note to 5 years.

My lifetime fuel average is right at 7.3 mpg, which for the lane I run, is pretty good.

I've had absolutely no issues with emissions...

I also bought a new 2016 53' Utility trailer in May of 2016 for 30k. My payments on it are $475 a mo. I'm considering writing a check next week and pay off the balance owing of $11,000.

The moral of the story for me is that buying new was really an imperative and the numbers overall bear that out.