O/O What did your first truck cost you?

In 1973 I was driving a 65 kW glider that my boss paid $500.00 for....

 

and it's probably on truck paper for $80k right now.

 

It can be done. can YOU do it? sure you can. will you? that is the question. things have to fall into place. you have to make things work out.


I was invested heavily in the stock market & the commodities markets years before I got into trucking. I pulled a lot out in 99' I paid cash to get into trucking. truck, trailer, all equip needed. I thought I knew where the economy was headed & I was correct according to me. after making 80 % to 200% on my money I knew that opportunity would not be available again. so my gamble was if I took all this money & put it into trucking & it does not work out & I lose it all, I could not go back into the market & redo what I have done the previous decade. luck has been on my side too. from talking to countless other owner op's I think my main staying power is my habits out side of trucking more so than trucking related.

 

I started out as a o/o. things have worked out great for me. I had to make things work out. when I first started looking to get into the business, I took my time. being real young, but real ole fashioned, I knew what I wanted. or more what I did not want. I have applied mostly common sense & logic to my decisions. when looking I found a 1995 intl coe with 400,000 miles on it. it was in great cond. it was just off walmart lease.

Price. $15,000. looked around for a month & found other 95' hoods with 600-700 miles for more than twice the coe. being new to this, I scratched my head & wondered. I just didnt get it, still dont. the options. pay $15,000 or pay $30-32,000 but make the same money? it did not take me more than a few seconds to decide on a dependable truck, rather than a real nice looking one. that was then. at that time. early 99' freight was abundant. I paid cash & started making more money than ever before in my life.

I had so much freight, I could run 24 7 if I could run 24/7. the one thing I kept in mind was this may not last. I did not run out & buy anything else.I did not change my lifestyle at all. from making 400 a week to over 2000, take home, did not mean a thing. truck maint was a first priority. in my opinion. it is the drivers home habits that due them in more than anything. a few good weeks & they think they can afford anything. I bought 2 new couches in over 20 years that is the frugal type I am. not cheap. FRUGAL. when the bottom dropped out of it in 2000 2001 I have seen so many folks lose their trucks, lose their dreams. lose it all. since the first year, since I made a decent amount of money & did not spend except what I needed, I had a tax dilema. nothing to write off. so the first year & every year. I would buy a peice of property & use that as the tax write off I needed.

property that appreciates, was better for me than chrome that does not. to date from my trucking business I have over 24 properties & several homes. this is not possible with out a supportive wife, if you have one. I have also raised 6 kid's thru this, the eldest in college the youngest is 6. going as o/o can be done. you have to have strict discipline, know your goals & yeah some luck too.

when starting out you may have to live & look like no one else, so that later you can look & live like no one else. by the way I am still in the same truck. over 1.3 mil miles. just had inframe done.

 

I paid well under 10k for my '00 Century Class about a year ago. Trailer was right around 10k. Truck mileage was in the 900k range. I had it checked out and oil analysis done. Bought it to keep overhead down and banked as much as possible with the goal of replacing it within the next year. Replaced it a few months before I planned but it all worked out. Truck had well over a million miles on it when traded.

 

Back in 2008 I bought 2000 Pete with 835 000 miles 379 paid $16200.00 Benson 2000 flatbed $ 10 000.00 no more cash money,some credit card balance for fuel.45 days no single check,eat white bread with peanut butter,drink water. But
First haul made $ 800.00 never looked back, today I average $ 600.00 a day and I am happy,If you want to make it your own try to raugh it a 2 mounths and you will make it. No you wont be rich but you will be living better than working for some big company most important do not pay any attention drivers that post negative feed back in to this site. REMEMBER ONE THING
IF THERE IS WILL THERE IS A WAY Trust your guts and dont be a cry baby,work at it.

 

My thoughts exactly Turker.... couldn't have said it any better myself!

 

This is the kinda thread I like reading through. It gives me hope and lets me know that it may be rough and not easy to get a truck running but it can be done. Well lifes rough and sone times you gotta take that dirt road instead of the paved one. I have a will and now I need to find the way.

 

My first expediter was a Ford E350 that i bought in '99 when I leased on to Con-Way Now....or Con-Us Now as they were known by their O/O's.

In 2000 I figured out that having a van was a losing proposition so I found three '98 KW T300's for sale for one money....$48K. I bought all three, sold two of them for $19K each and kept the other... they were just cab and chassis units so I found an 84" sleeper for $2K and bought a used 24' freight box for $700.00. My son and I stretched the frame, mounted the sleeper and the body and I painted the box in my yard with a brush and a roller... looked really good!

You can do stuff on the cheap if you have the drive to get it done...

 

Gave $4000.00 for it. It was a 1979 coe freightliner with a 7 spd spicer trans and a VT903 cummins motor rated at 330 hp. 4:44 rears and 138 in. wheel base. Top speed was about 72 mph and got approx 4.5 mpg.