I'd preserve that money, and your husband's job with steady income until after the virus is over. When you buy a truck, especially used one, you also buy liabilities. The first year, 2014, when I bought mine, I spent 20K on the very repairs and maintenance...the rates were solid, though. $50k is just enough not to get into an anxiety over the nearest future. Check here,every now and then,finally you'll see quite a few heralds saying the rates are good. Then you'll buy.
No one knows what will happen in the next year, just keep stacking those dollars. In order not to fail you need six months house expenses, three months truck expenses and twenty five repair money.
Go on YouTube and watch Alex on Towpiglet , he has been Hotshotting for years. Very honest with all his earnings and expenses and what to do and not to do. Just the sleeping conditions alone Hotshotting convinced me I would never want to do it. To me the best part of trucking is having my kitchen, toilet and bed with me.
keep working where he is at, save up more money, for a bigger down payment, or set that aside for when times get tough to pay the bills. with this virus going around right now and in some areas a slowdown in freight and some rates, it may not be in your/his best interest right now.
Yall stay put , I thought I would keep running but this weeks freight rates tell me to head home and unfortunately sit at home for the next couple of weeks.
How low do new truck prices need to fall before it would make sense to buy one in this situation, even if you park it for awhile? I realize this is a tough question to answer since this never happened before
Danny has got the right answer. Not the time, to do it. In the best of times, it’s risky, now could be foolish. Of course by that time you’ll have the funds to buy a NEW truck. Consult a CPA to tell you how best to pay for it tax wise. Hold on to both your jobs! Good luck and be happy, that you don’t have a noose around your necks. My personal opinion on hot shots - no, not ever! Too easy to get into, too hard to get out of...
VERY BAD TIME. people are going to go out of business very fast and there will be a glut of trucks on the market for a while. We have had too much capacity for a long time, now we are seeing a contraction of that capacity and it will cause (unfortunately) a push for more drivers and more trucks when we don't need more.
It's a tough time to get started, personally, I think if a driver has a decent company gig, it's better to stay there. To operate solely off the spot market will only become more difficult in the future, with so many fixed costs and regulations. Then competition from an endless number of owner ops and fleets, is tough. Hes still working so if I were him, I'd just keep stacking the money
