Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

I don't have much experience, and I could be wrong, but looking at how much it costs to have your own authority(freight insurance being a big one, especially for a new authority), it doesn't seem very profitable to go with a one truck operation with vans, at least without having good, solid contract freight lined up beforehand. I read either on one of these forums or online recently that tge avg vane rate for O/O on spot market is around 1.30/mi. Seems like a pretty low average to float all of that expense/responsibility.

 

Dealing with brokers isn't that bad. 95% of the tone they are just as professional as i try to be. Sure you get those 5% that are bad for various reasons so you just add them to your list of bad brokers. The bad part is trying to get a good rate from them. And in the dry van and reefer segment that's very difficult cause they know chances are the next guy they call is going to be willing to pull the load for 25 percent less. Too many guys out here with dry vans and reefers ate running dirt cheap. We got some of those same fly by night living load to load guys in the open deck game, but it certainly feels like it's not as many of them. At least not in the midwest. Get down to florida or texas and #### they are everywhere.

 

Yep. Every one and there brother has a dry van. The beauty and curse of our industry is the ease of access. And dry vans are the easiest and cheapest to get started in, so therefore had the lowest rates due to the sheer volume of new entrants without a clue and running on a shoe string budget.

 

So I found out more about the KW "Advantage" package...I forget who posted it, but they were right! Schneider did find a way to strip it down more...pretty much sounds like they are specd just like their Freightshakers, which I'm sure are just like the rare company T680 you see on the road. Think im going to take the advice previously mentioned on here and do a 1 year on used, and then if things work out, go to Lone Mountain or someplace similar. I hate to pay on a truck for 1 year and turn it in, but at the same time, I would like a little more than bare bones in a vehicle I spend 80% of my time in.

 

My 2016 has the radar. I'm getting used to it.

But more to the point, I've been wondering where the Volvo love is. I've seen a few other IC's with them and I don't know how many SFI has to offer. But it's THE truck IMHO. It's been my favorite since '96, when CRE assigned me a 670. Only problem with that, as I told my dispatcher, was that the top bunk was fixed. "So!", he said. "So how am I gonna do it doggy style in the lower bunk?" No table in that one either.

The ride, the turning radius, the giant fridge/freezer, the all led interior lights, THE TABLE, the flat screen mount, the visibility, remote door locks (lousy distance), steering wheel radio, phone, headlight and marker interrupt controls, BT XM/Sirius (comes with 3 months free subscription). What's not on the steering wheel is on stalks right behind it. Sophisticated cruise, which takes a while to get used to but is great (You set engagement speed while on cruise). Instant downshift using the cruise stalk, or use the buttons under the radio. Trip computer on the wiper stalk. No shift lever in mine, which is debatable, but it makes getting in and out of the seat easy.

5th wheel air gauge, thick Jost 5th wheel release (makes the Fontaine look like a coat hanger), and of course an air dump. It's too deep in the menu, but there is oil level readout too. LED turn signals in the convex mirrors, which are cool sometimes and a total distraction at night when you are trying to miss a pole during a tight turn.

Even more to the point, the fact that Volvo makes the entire truck, as in body, D13 engine, and iShift transmission, and assembles them in their largest plant in the world, in VA, means as lot to me. The synchronicity between the engine and iShift that @TennMan alludes to is pretty #### nice.

They are the second largest truck manufacturer on earth.

What do you hear all the time anecdotally? They are hard to work on. I guess so when guys who aren't certified to do so attempt it.

Also, downtime in the shop. After spending 5 days in a motel in Atlanta waiting for Peach State Freightliner to fix a tractor protection valve I have dismissed that argument as well.

Monday I got it lubed for the first time at a Volvo Dealer in Maine. I decided not to do the "recommended" shake down, but I wanted to be compliant with the warranty requirements. Called them at 0900 and told them I was 25 miles away. Left around noon, under load. Just a lube, and $84 bucks, but I was impressed.

Not bragging (I shelled out a 7 grand down payment to SFI), but Volvo usually gets left out of the discussions here, and I just wanted to offer my opinion. It's my dream truck (and my home).

I've wondered why some of you guys who seem quite knowledgable about other aspects of trucking haven't considered them.

A man in motion has a chance.

 

When I got my 680 SFI was negotiating with Volvo on new purchase I do wish I'd of waited.

 

From what the SFI rep told me, they rarely get them...don't know why

 

I might have got lucky at just the right time, but when my SFI rep said a Volvo was available, then Choice became the route for me. It's a leftover now, a 2016, and was manufactured in August 2015. I don't know when SFI received it, but it sat on their lot for a while, the rusty lugs attested to that.

My rep said at one point, "Volvo has really upped their game with us", whatever that is worth.

 

If I was in the new truck market the one and only thing that would concern me is the power train. all the rest is just bells and whistles. Nice, but bells and whistles just the same. Until proven otherwise it still looks like Detroit is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. It's a shame you can't spec your truck of choice with a power train of your choosing.

 

I don't have the knowledge to debate one engine over another. How about light years ahead vs leaps and bounds? I do know that I made the right decision for me, and every Volvo (and Mack) I have ever driven (not owned) has impressed me. My Swedish girlfriend was hot too.