How did you get your first truck?

I have two different loans, The first is for one of my trucks through the bank. It wasn't a direct funding loan but it is up as colateral as well as a second postion on my house. I am paying 7% interest and the term is 5 years but I can pay it off sooner.

The other loan covers my second truck and both sets of trailers. It was 10% down with an interest of 6.75% but I have a security deposit placed against it to get a lower interest. The loan is for 4 years

It was a challenge to get financing as I was a new business so getting the financing was a challenge. Hence the house and security deposit. For the truck/trailer I am planning to purchase in the spring I am expecting the process to be much easier. I should also have around 20% down from the business and will be able to finance 10-20% through a Home Line of Credit which will give me flexibility to pay back when cash is available and sooner than a fixed term loan.

 

If you don't mind, I'm a finance manager at a dealership and would love to jump in and let you know what I see from my lenders.

First time equipment purchasers are usually the hardest ones to get financed, but, there are many first time programs out there, especially considering what your credit looks like. Most financing companies I use that will finance first time buyers are looking for at least most of the following:

-2 years driving experience
-Bare minimum 10% downpayment (though the more you have down, the easier it will be)
-Credit scores somewhere above 650 without any major dings
-Homeowner (shows that you are stable)
-Installment loan comparable credit (surprisingly, if you have bought a car, boat, jetski, etc, and paid it off, many lenders will be willing to extend financing of roughly 1.5 times that amount)*
-Co-signer/Guaranteer (helps big if you are a first time buyer and the co-signer is someone with alot of equipment finance history)
-Collateral (saving bonds, a house (paid for), retirement account, etc)

If you have 4+ of these things, odds are probably in your favor. Remember that the first time you buy a truck will likely be the most expensive interest rate you will pay, short of having repossessions/fresh bankruptcy's on your record. If you get the loan paid off, the second time you purchase it should be cheaper, faster, and far fewer hoops to jump through.

*I am in no way advocating going out and buying a 60k pickup truck to get some comparable installment loan credit, but, if you have purchased something like that, I have seen lenders look at that favorably.

 

Wow I'mm looking at this thread and I'm like you guys are really so lucky. Interest rates are so low. My first truck was 10,000 down finianced through Diamler, even with a 768 mean score, I was considered high risk, first time buyer and they handed me a rate of 19.9%. Talk about yanking your chain. I di however pay it off six months early. Second truck was 3,000 down on 39,000 plus 6,000 in warranties. Finianced through liberty at 8.25. Now I'm lookin, nothing down 4.9% through credit union. Again mean score much higher. This is like being in heaven. NEVER EVER SAW RATES THIS LOW!!!!!!!! a MORTGAGE 2.6% FOR 15 YEARS ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!! Pinch me, so I know I'm not dreaming. seriously Rates are low, an excellent score should get you 5% down and 4-8% for 4or 5 years. The drawback, Used truck Prices are at a premium. EG.. 2005 classic xl with 348k in excellent condition bought in 09, dealer asked 59k, purchased it at 39k, This same truck I could sell for higher than the price I bought it for right now. Prices of trucks are really high right now. Deals are hard to come by. If you can wait.

 

I bought my first truck from a private party, financed it thru who he did. (Old Republic, no longer in the financing business) I was like so many others and had no money for a down payment and good credit, so the seller wrote two bill of sales, one for him and I for tax purposes (the actual amount of the sale) and a second one for the bank, it showed I gave the seller $x,xxx in cash as a down payment, and that was good enough for the bank.

 

I Bought my First Rig 4 months ago at the right time. his happens every 4 years. When Schneider National sells there rigs coming off road. I droved my car to Georgia, Atlanta and saw 10 trucks. All ten trucks had their Batteries stolen on the weekend. So i tell Rezno the shop manager that David the Salesman in Wisconsin gave me these other truck numbers, he took me to the other corner. I saw like this truck was talking to me. This tractor was so clean, everything was right mechanically. To make the long story short, rezno tells me, i dont know prices, i just show them. Something told me this was going to work in my favor. I call Davis the salesman, tell him which unit i choosed. What happend my truck had low milage, ther was another truck that had almost the same number. My truck was schneider #45657. at $23,500 the other truck #46657 had way more miles at $34,500 and was beat up. (remember when rezno said i dont know prices, just show the rigs for sale) Ends up that they confused both rigs unit numbers and #45657 should've been at $34,500 and #46657 at $23,500. So i got myself a great truck at a reduced price by a mistake by someone in schneider of $11,000. Now i talked to David the used truck saleman for Schneider and tell him that hey im a little guy trying to survive. can we go down on price, he says how much, y say lets leave it a $20,000. He runs the numbers and says ok. Deal. So im here $13,000 discount on a rig Freightliner Century S60 Detroit 12.7 with 491,000 miles 10 speed. I call Commercial Fleet Financing and give my credit to them. I had good credit, live in my house over ten years so i quilified for the VIP deal. Nothing Down, fist two month $99.00 dollars then a monthy payment of $800.00 dollars a month. To end the story, i pay this company to pick my rig in Atlanta, i dint have registration or ins. or permit to run from GA to FL and y paid this company to pick it up and deliver it to my house, the driver goes to Schneider to pick my tractor and they are trying to give him unit 46657 yes the junk with 755,000 miles and the driver tells them, hey i got a release form from Wisconsin. Looks like they figured out the $13.000 mistake and it was to late. The truck was bought and paid for Jajajajjaja so they came with yea we cant find the key this and that, so they mad a key, the driver told me this tractor is a steal, nice ride and told me the story how they gave him a hard time to retreav my truck. So folks, been pulling Port Containers ever since and the tractor is strong, well serviced with genuine parts, Just need to get rid of these old recap tires and put new shocks. The story of this Guys is that if you dont take a risk in life, you aint going anywhere! This Business is a Pick and Hit and i won big on this one. No money came out of my pocket in this deal other than for registration and my tractor ins. thats $130.00 a month. My lease company puts the rest. And thats my story and small Business like us is what made this Country Great for the last 200 years! Not the Lousy Politicians in Washington. Good Luck in your small Business and happy Investing!

 

Did a buy here pay here with a 4k down payment on two trucks already. One was 1.1k per month for 12months and 1.15k per month for 24months. End buy out was about 1800. My credit sucks and it was local place. Ill do it again if I gotta.

 

Bought my truck from Werner fleet sales..07 Century 290k miles. $58k down and no payments ever 300k+ miles later the kitty still purrs...Looking to buy a house now the same way!

 

I first took risks in the stock market. commodities & real estate. in early 99' after 7 months of looking. I bought my first truck a 95' intl coe for $15.000 cash. it had 400.000 miles. it was just retired from walmart fleet. everything on it looked like new. still driving it everyday.

 

Just saw an older werner truck for 26k. 581k miles and an apu! If I was in the market right now id be on that! C-15 also!!!