Going to start a trucking company - advice welcome

If you want to be cost effective buying 07 Volvo's 780 with 500K wont be the way to go. all warranty will be gone and them so called extended warranty is either gonna cost a lot or not cover repairs. If the drivers dont take care of them they can be very expensive. If you have a cummins engine TA and Petro will do some work on them as long as its not electronic other wise you wait til in the morning when the Volvo dealer open and get in line for the all day or two wait. And Volvo charges between $97 - $113 an hour for labor

IMO you would be better off leasing new ones no maintance to worry about bigger tax write off

 

Depending on your start up budget I would go with used equipment. As it appears you have a fairly decent budget to get the operation going you should be able to find a good late model equipment that was part of a large fleet w/ a reputable maintenance operation. Stevens was unloading 06's for $32,000 not that long ago. It would be in your company's best interest to pay on a percentage or per mile basis as well as keep drivers motivated. As several have said throughout the forum a Volvo truck w/ a Volvo engine will be an expensive repair when there is one...personally I would look for trucks with the Cummins or Detroit engines. Keep in mind that with that number of trucks you may want to look into purchasing your fuel wholesale for the cost savings.

 

Yes, that was a very nice meeting the other night. Got a lot of information out in the open. Will be looking forward to more brainstorming sessions lol

 

Could always allow the 'conversions' a better rate than the new-hires. Either give them a few cpm more or keep paying them hourly (if they are worth it).

Just my $.0275 worth.