I'll tell you what man...

In full disclosure it didn’t work out this way by design.
I started at 21 years old as an owner operator and that endeavor failed.
I then got in to mechanical work and worked for a company for awhile.
After that a retiring shop owner offered me a opportunity to buy a turn key shop with a house and he would help me.
I jumped at the opportunity and worked hard and made my way and was successful.
About ten or twelve years of running the shop I found out I missed the road some what and decided to add trucking to the other services we provided.
When I did this it was important to me to make sure that when I came back in to trucking it was on my own terms.
My trucking services run a way that many say can’t be done.
Because of the support of my other businesses my trucking company runs as a part time operation and it runs from the end of March in the spring till the beginning of June and then starts again at the end of September till just before New Years.
I live in very rural area and discovered early on that to survive comfortably I needed multiple streams of income and any businesses ventures needed to work in concert with each other to be successful.
30+ years later I am very happy with the way things turned out.

 

Mmhmm. Then you are saying that the amount of time that I have been an owner operator is the only possible source of experience i can use to suggest to someone that it might be worth looking at replacing a truck that is costing them both a lot of time and a lot of money?

Common sense and life experience surely couldn't have contributed to my suggestion, right?

 

Fair enough. The way you mentioned it, it sounded like you were driving a money pit.

 

Old vs new vs kinda new vs kinda newer but not so new, is a discussion that has been beat to death on this forum.

@Gumper did a lot of his own research on the subject before he took the plunge on old and doing what's necessary to keep it running.

By his own admission, it can be a rough row to hoe...

However, for him, he believes it's what works best for him, for a whole host of reasons. Only time will tell, like it does for all of us, including you, give it a few more months

 

I think they all cost the same in the long run.

 

That is an awesome story, good to see the american dream still alive and well

 

I don't know if you'd make a decent living off employing a mechanic in a shop. You won't find anyone decent for less than $30-$35/hr. Plus its pretty much standard practice in the heavy repair industry that mechanics only have to supply up to 1/2" drive hand and air tools, the rest is all supplied by the company. I'd expect it'd cost about $35-$50k just to tool up a shop, not to mention the costs involved in buying/building the shop itself. Then you'll need parts inventory. Its not really cost effective to pay your mechanic by the hour to drive over to NAPA/Traction 6 times a day for nuts, bolts, filters, brake shoes, seals etc.

 

Thanks for the kind words.
I am always willing to help the next ones coming up just as I had someone help me.
I have to admit though that it helps me as much as it helps them.
It’s a very gratifying feeling one that no money can buy.

 

Who is using Doran TPMS? I need reviews.

 

I have the room to open a shop and have thought a lot about it. Problem is where do you find a good mechanic?!? Like truck drivers all the good ones have a job and are paid very well. Haven’t gotten serious enough yet to advertise for a mechanic but sure haven’t come across any either.

I’m curious if any other fleet owners could comment on how many trucks they had before bringing everything in house? @Liquidforce i saw in the other thread you have a fleet, do you have a shop as well?