Newb looking at buying dedicated route

You need to see if you can go on a few round trips with him after you get the OK from co he is leased on with that they will let you drive for them?

 

Buddy says he is retiring, sells the starting to fall apart truck, in two months announces that he is tired of sitting at home, buys a new truck and gets a $2.0 dedicated run.

 

Why not buy your own truck or truck/trailer and lease it to the same co?

Just because your friend runs that dedicated route, doesn't mean its his to sell. He runs that route for the carrier he's leased to. He retires, then that carrier still needs that route run.

Buy the kind of truck you want, specced how you want. Not what someone just has available.

 

So only the truck he owns can run that route for the carrier? That carrier needs A truck to run that route, not just your friends truck.

The used truck market is in the toilet, as much as truck sellers want to say otherwise. Do you need an 18spd transmission to yank a dry van? Can only his truck be rated for 500hp?

You need to separate the business side and personal side. The carrier he is leased to doesnt care who owns the truck, who drives the truck, how the truck is specced, etc. When he's done that carrier needs their route run.

On a personal note. If I were looking at spending 80k on a truck & trailer, it wouldn't be a T680. It'll be a pre emissions glider or older pre emissions truck and it'll sure be something I have some pride in.

 

If I wanted to buy a truck and get into business, I would do just that. I wouldn’t pay a premium for a truck just because it’s currently assigned to a regular run. Why not check around and see if you can find some desirable freight and then look for a truck? Or maybe a company that has decent paying lanes/freight going where you want to go?

About 25 years ago my brother bought a truck and specialized (live bottom trailer) as an established business hauling wood chips away from a saw mill. The deal was, he could have the exclusive right to the wood chips and sell them for livestock bedding or whatever. Guess what? About 3 months after he signed up for that “sweet little deal”, the saw mill began selling the would chips to another party. Now he had no business, he had to put that old truck over the road, leased on to a company.

There are any number of reasons why this may not work out to keep the dedicated route, then you’ve got a truck that you have to find work for.

just my $.02, best wishes to you.

 

I took the income and rate per mile to calculate the miles on my post.

So you’re saying there’s more work available than what is currently being run?

 

Man, tomorrow is a brand new day.
Look around at the companies that have bailed out in the last year.
Too risky for me.
Good luck