First Time Truck Buyer 2021 Peterbilt 579

My question is this - how many years have you been driving?

I don't think you are answering his question to what he wants to hear.

He would hate my advice.

 

I hope you have work lined up, and have you gotten a quote on insurance?

 

Prime is selling the truck because it is no longer a reliable tool for income. Let that sink in.

If it was a good buy, prime would be buying it right now.

you know there’s a reason why almost every owner operator goes out of business. They have the same dreams, but start out with no money and hope for the best. There’s no luck in being successful. You’re either a winner or not. It is a choice that you make. -and being lucky, is not….

 

Pretty much what he said. Only thing i disagree with is there IS an element of luck. Keep in mind however while there IS an element of luck, its very minimal. Usually something along the lines of "my brand new 500 mile trucks engine just exploded and it will be 6 months to fix it" or "some ####### in an amazon truck just sideswiped me into a ditch my first werk". If you go in with a plan, emergency funds, a business plan, multiple options, and a customer lined up your far more likely to be successful. But even that is not a given.

Issue is a LOT of people underestimate just how much captial is needed going in. Sure you can pick up any ol rig for like $10K down. But what about expenses? What happens if some vandal flattens all 18 tires? Do you have options if your dropped by your customer? What if your truck starts off with a major breakdown? Who is going to fix it? Can you get it towed? Can you fix it yourself? What if the needed parts are on a multi month back order? Can you do the legwork to find them? Are you willing to work way later then you expect? (ive had nights where i was up to 4AM looking for parts and days where i was on the phone for 12+ hours calling every single junkyard i could find when parts were unavalible)

This is only a tiny tiny fraction of being an O/O. And honestly if you have less then 60k going in AFTER your truck purchase. Your an idiot and you WILL fail 99 times out of 100.

 

I'm not a mechanic, but the one thing I can tell you about Paccar is they have a BOAT LOAD of sensors, many more than other manufacturers. And, guess what's ALWAYS going out on trucks. And, some of them are upwards to $2k to replace. No thanks!

 

Ima just say this as everyone has covered everything else. My YtD on my P&L for repairs is $99,712 and for once im not screwing with the numbers and telling you exactly. Methinks you should reconsider a paccar. They have a bad rep for a gods ###### reason. If you get em new and maintain em correctly from day 1. Sure they can be a good choice. But paccars dont recover from sloppy maintaince.

 

But I thought European engineering was superior to ours?

 

And as a contrast to the above statement, I’ve barely cracked $10k for maintenance so far this year and I bought 10 tires in September. And with my previous Paccar I don’t think I ever cracked $20k in a year but I’d have to check my paperwork this weekend to confirm that. He’s definitely correct in stating get a new one and take care of it from the start.

 

What did you replace the peterbilt with?

 

International lonestar with an ISX and factory warranty left on it.