Finally got my own truck

I was mistaken about that. I apologize.

Well, that's one way to look at it. You can hang around truck stops and whine about non-paying loads while others are picking those loads and still making money (and please don't tell me everyone picking those loads is losing money). Of course, in this case BW has a huge payment to make so he wants the best paying loads, but that was his choice to start with a big debt. It's a death spiral.

I hope BW will get out of this as winner, but he will have to do things differently. So far, I have seen more complaining and less working.

 

My impression is that he isn't complaining or coming close to whining. He is trying to get a gauge from seasoned drivers how much he should be getting for his loads. So far he is in the black. He seems to be highly motivated, has a plan which includes a healthy dose of experience before moving up to reefer, and is just now finishing the slowest quarter of the year for dry van.

I think he will do fine. By this time next year I expect his $/mile for all miles to be much improved as he gains experience. The thing I hope he can accomplish is to bank some funds to cover major repairs that magically aren't covered by warranty.

 

I really hope so.

 

Logistics takes time. As a broker my first three years I barely knew anything.

Takes time to learn markets and trends but eventually it all clicks.

I do agree that he should have purchased a older truck but hey not my call

 

It takes time to know that you don't know anything. Three years seems to be the magic number, based on my own experience in other industries.

An older truck will have much higher maintenance costs in the first year, no matter how well you do your research. IMHO the total cost of truck related expenses in the first year will probably be a wash versus buying a new truck. In the second year the older truck begins to show better overall cost. At least that is my own experience. Over and above the cost of my old truck, I will be putting about $30K into my truck in the first year. After that I will have more confidence I have a truck that is 100% and then I will be on top of issues with a PM schedule. A new truck doesn't have that up front maintenance cost, but maintains a high payment through the life of the loan.

 

Depreciation on a new truck also lowers the tax burden considerably more than a used one.

 

A dd15 with 300k miles costs 55k.

Volvo 780 2017 cost 130. That's 1/3 nearly.

 

That maybe true but I check COI daily when I award a load and most guys I use for my loads who have been around for long time always seem to be running trucks between 2010-2013

 

I don't want to start an argument here, but IMO, people that use depreciation as an excuse to trade trucks or justify buying new trucks is ridiculous. You depreciate a used truck just the same, bc it's based on purchase price over 3-5 years. An older truck may have more maintenance expenses, but those are deductible as well. The problem with repairs costing so much over the life of a used truck is bc people don't fix things right. They piece crap back together. You could literally buy a $15000 truck and completely rebuild it nuts to bolts for under $60000. Now you have a new truck for $75000 that is more reliable then this new crap they are making. The money you spend doing this, again is deductible. If you really need something to depreciate, buy trailers. After all they are what makes you money, not the truck.

 

Even still, starting something new with that much debt is not the best way of doing things. Look at Blair's thread he started with old truck, put a lot of money, BUT ..while he was making it. Now he is stable and have cash and even now shy of buying a new Pete (We all know oldman will steer him away from Volvo to Pete).