Need advice... Pulling the plug...after 2 weeks?

That's true, starting out on a new venture is always rough. The first month I had my truck,Western Star, broke 2 springs on the drive axle, and found major structural flaws with the sleeper mounts.( almost lost the sleeper) A month after that, broke another spring, said screw this, borrowed another 5K and cut the back half off and put a Pete air leaf suspension on it. Best decision made. Seems to be the major feeling here, stay with for a while. It will get better.

 

I will just come out and say it .
If he is wanting to sale out just do it and let him go back to his LTL gig.
He will never make it as an O/O if this has him running scared already.

It sounds like he needs to go back and play it safe and just cash the pay checks and be happy .
Owning a truck is not for the weak of heart .
You have to be the type that does it all and is not afraid to take a few steps backwards every now and then .

If he thinks he has spent allot of money so far he ain't seen nothing yet !!
Owning a truck will show the meaning of trucking ain't for sissies LOL .
It will make a grown man cry but you suck it up and truck on or roll over and give up.

It sounds like we know what your BF is wanting to do so cut your loses and learn a very important lesson Know what the heck you are doing before you put your future at risk.
20 years driving the other mans truck don't teach you squat about running your own .

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;3989579]Hi dewine29, just put a piece of black tape over the light that's on. Sorry, thought a little humor might help. Since you are going to take a loss on the unit anyway, I'd try and get the issues settled and give it another try. If it's any consolation, as more and more company trucks get the axe, (Kraft) being an O/O could be the place to be. Good luck, again.[/QUOTE]Black tape over the light is funny! A company I worked for bought a bunch of Internationals and several of them, the engine light stayed on. The shop foreman said they couldn't find anything wrong so told us to put black tape over the light. I drove that truck 2 or 3 years with the engine light on and black tape over it so I wouldn't have to look at it.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;3989318]Hi dewine29, I'm really sorry to hear of your dilemma, for the life of me, I can't understand why someone would buy their own truck nowadays. I know some people do make it in O/O, but generally, these are established folks that have good runs, and it's extremely difficult for someone to break into that field. I owned 3 trucks, and they were all older trucks, and could do all the repairs myself. As trucks became more complicated, and faced with the fact, I would have to update(many companies won't put on older trucks)and realizing I'd have to have them repaired at a service facility, I too got out of it. And now, taking a loss on the sale of the truck, is like salt in the wounds. Being an O/O was the zenith of my career, and it's a shame you got a bad taste from giving it a try. Hope you can bounce back from this experience.[/QUOTE]


lol, that's a funny post because its so wrong.

 

LOL yea Ive done that myself a time or two

 

Thanks everyone for all the comments, I'm in the same boat with most of you on giving it another try but unfortunately, even after I showed him this post, he's still afraid to take it back on the road. When he was talking about being an O/O before, I thought he was ready. No kids, no debts, have some money in the bank, doable, right? While I was still working, i prepared myself for the lifestyle change and did my research regarding the business part and finances. Left the truck purchasing research up to him. Didn't realize until now that there's so much more to it. I'm trying my best to understand his logic, on wanting to protect the savings we have left, thats why i came here in TTR. I should have been here long time ago, before we bought the truck but he was eager to start this new venture. I don't want to blame him because I have failed to slow us down to make sure we have done all the homework. Now, after reading all these posts, I've come to the conclusion that we were not ready to be an O/O. I can try to convince him to keep on trucking but if he's going to be restless and nervous about the truck every minute, I know I should just throw the white flag. I need to focus on the next step - selling the truck. This time I want to make sure we've looked at all the angles on how we can get back as much money we can in order to lessen the loss. Besides truck paper and selling/consigning with dealers, what other options do we have?

 

Well, at least you tried. Is there any kind of recourse with the dealer? I mean, people have brought action for more frivolous matters. Trouble is, getting out is a heck of a lot harder than getting in. Reminds me of when I had my Harley. Buying it was a snap, come time to sell it, I couldn't give it away. $13K loss is tough, I don't care who you are( except people that restore classic cars, for some reason) Truck paper is not the best, as that thing is stuffed with trucks to begin with, and without the issues taken care of, it will be a tough sell privately. If you know any legal aide, talk with them. Clearly, there was a problem from the get go, and I wouldn't feel sorry for the dealer one bit.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;3989803]Well, at least you tried. Is there any kind of recourse with the dealer? I mean, people have brought action for more frivolous matters. Trouble is, getting out is a heck of a lot harder than getting in. Reminds me of when I had my Harley. Buying it was a snap, come time to sell it, I couldn't give it away. $13K loss is tough, I don't care who you are( except people that restore classic cars, for some reason) Truck paper is not the best, as that thing is stuffed with trucks to begin with, and without the issues taken care of, it will be a tough sell privately. If you know any legal aide, talk with them. Clearly, there was a problem from the get go, and I wouldn't feel sorry for the dealer one bit.[/QUOTE]

We don't even know the depth of the problem because he doesn't want spend more money on it. We were going to bobtail 300+ miles to have his service manager friend take a look at it but unfortunately the friend was sent out of town for work indefinitely.

 

Does the truck run OK? I mean, I'll bet you're not the only one with lights on the dash on. I don't advocate running it like that, but maybe someone here can tell them what the consequences are with running the truck like that. You're kind of in between a rock and a hard place. I'd pressure the dealer, nice guys finish last, it seems, I'd hate to see you get stuck.

 

Don't sell the truck or give up the business just yet. It simply sounds like all of the sensors in the EGR system need to be cleaned and a couple may need replaced.

You can do all of this yourself!

If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you purchase and download the e-book, "The First Time Class 8 Lease Purchase Owner-Operator Guide". It is written by Terry Norris (who also frequents the Trucker Report forums".

This book does an EXCELLENT job explaining the EGR and DPF systems, and how to troubleshoot and maintain them.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/115110075/The-First-Time-Class-8-Lease-Purchase-Owner-Op-Guide

Becoming an O/O is a huge endeavor. Give your BF a pep-talk, clean those sensors, and get out of the road.
Every start-up business goes through them in the beginning. GOOD LUCK!