LP of 6 years, on 2nd truck. Need Info on how to buy Conestoga trailer.

******First off I am not picking on you and I really want you to succeed in trucking.******
Your past approach to equipment seems to me to be one of your problems delaying your future success. Renting a trailer versus buying one with similar or much smaller payments that should have been paid off by now, is one of the issues I can see. We can’t do anything about the past but learn and do differently in the future. If you bought or leased a second tractor because you didn’t have the money to repair the first is another issue. I understand some problems with lack of cash, but it is not a profitable solution to keep equipment one can’t use that still has some value if it could be repaired and either used or sold. Your DEF(EGR) issues aren’t going away with the model year equipment you are operating. Keeping equipment you aren’t using because of capital gains is not applicable in your case. Don’t ever let anyone tell you to do this or to buy or keep anything because you need a “tax deduction”. The math does not ever work to spend a dollar to avoid paying 30cents in taxes on anything you wouldn’t buy unless you need or want it. You will pay taxes on the value of the unit sold compared to how much you depreciated it. You need to look at your equity in that truck as the money for a down payment on a trailer.

If I were you I would learn how @blairandgretchen was able to succeed in trucking by reading his posts and try to do as much as possible as he has done. Read his entire post at “the journey begins”. There are many successful people on this forum, but none that I know of who have laid it all out for those people who want to do what it takes to succeed like he has done.
Good luck and success in trucking won’t be easy and won’t happen overnight, but it most certainly is possible. How do I know? I have spent 30 something years “living like no one else so I can live like no one else”. Blair did it much quicker than I did, but he certainly did it.

 

What do you mean "leverage"? You don't mean put it up as collateral do you? Please don't do that, i don't wanna see you guys get screwed if something bad happens and you can't bring in any revenue. Or was I reading that the wrong way?

Blair has a really detailed thread you should read.

When you say keeping up on the 6 month maintenance what exactly do you mean? You should be servicing the equipment a whole lot more than that. 15-20k for oil changes. Grease every 2 weeks or so. Run the overhead every 100k and service the emission system religiously .

Best of luck to you.

 

As suggested , y’all could team drive for a LTL and earn $80-90k per year, each. with full medical , vacation, and zero worries about the truck or it’s maintenance or costs.
have a flat tire? Phone call and it’s the companies problem.

Truck breaks down?
Phone call and they bring you another truck and the repairs are someone else’s problem.

 

First truck I ever drove , and owned , was a 9670.
Then got a 9700, I loved the 9700 with the set back steer and air ride drives . It was like riding on a cloud .

my 9670 was with a lease purchase from triple crown service / North American van lines.
And it was a decent LP plan.
Zero down, so much a month for two years and the truck is mine , or bring the truck back , toss em the keys , and walk away any time.

Triple crown was booming at that time with their “road-railers “ . The goofy trailers with the train wheels under them .
This was in 1990 and I was making $900 a month working full time as a ranger at a state park. First month with my lease purchase o/o deal, I cleared $5k after fuel and insurance and truck payment and all other expenses .

so it wasn’t hard for me to save a ton of money and buy a nicer truck two years later. Then I bought a house etc .

I see all these lease purchase nightmare stories and it’s sad, because my experience with them was great. I would never have been able to get started otherwise. I had good credit , but zero money. And zero truck driving experience . Back then if you said you had experience and could pass the company road driving test with an instructor , you got hired.

When triple crown started to go out of business and closed the terminal near me I took my truck to another company and their road test was asking me “did you drive your truck here ?”
“Did you hit anything on the way?”