Pullin with the dreaded PACCAR Mx13

If you've gotten to the point in your career where a new one is affordable and realistic, trading it in every few years while it still has a strong resale value for another new one is a strategy that works for many. They high payment never goes away but some people are fine with that and would rather that than repair headaches on older trucks. Others are buy-and-hold types who like to wring their money out of it long after it paid off. But there will be repair bills and fiascos with it. Ideally I'd start with a new one and hold it, but TBH the prices are insane and there are many things I just don't like about the new ones. (Like those digital dashboards), so i'll probably never have a brand new one.

 

Consider tax ramifications in your calculations to be honest.

 

The high payment goes away a truck or two down the road. You don’t keep financing the entire thing. The truck you’re getting out of is worth more plus you put additional down.

In 2016 when I sold my KW I put that money in the bank and didn’t touch it. In 2019 when I bought a truck again I only had to finance $65k on a 2 year old truck. In 2022 when I got my new one between selling the 2017 plus other money I set back I financed $52k of the $168k purchase price.

Had I kept going instead of selling it to learn how to haul fuel I would’ve been financing even less on a new one, and by the next one I would’ve been buying a new one outright. But instead I’m hauling fuel five days a week on a W2. And the truck money is in a high yield savings account just in case.

 

That’s a good point. The equity builds up faster than the depreciation on the first brand new one with the huge payment. That first new truck is tough to swing though. Need a strong gig lined up first that can cover it without being “truck poor”.

 

Agreed. I drove my FLD for about 4 years. I paid $30k for it. I put money into it, overhaul, new paint, etc but really it owed me nothing. I paid cash for the 95 W900 I bought and ran it for about a year. I will admit I got lucky and had someone that wanted that truck more than I wanted to keep it. Lol. I also got lucky with my 2022. I ordered it and had a price locked in before thing went crazy during Covid but by the time it showed up I got a premium for the 2017 I was selling.

Another way of thinking about it is you could finance a truck for $3k a month. Maybe on the next one you have enough equity and down payment to get your payment at $2500, then you can dump $500 a month into savings since you were making the $3k payment before. Then on the the next one maybe you’re at $2k so $1k a month goes into the next truck fund. Other than getting lucky on pricing I was making sure to put money back for my next truck.

 

There are several different ways to depreciate equipment, but that is definitely an advantage with new/expensive equipment. You could write off the whole entire $160k trailer the year you bought it with a Section 179 write off, or do a more typical straight line or MACRS depreciation which I think is either 4 or 5 years. If you write it all off the first year and sell it too soon there's tax penalties, but that might be offset by the purchase of another new one. Talk to a tax guy if you have one but you should be able to do that with the truck you bought in 2025.

 

I have ~10yrs of multi-temp experience. If you go with a Carrier unit, you won’t have any issues with pulling/maintaining temp, which means the unit won’t work nearly as hard as a TK unit. Carrier have a larger compressor, evaporator, and fan/airflow capacity. Also, they have an available low-profile secondary unit that runs across the ceiling, wall to wall. It has a row a fans all the way across, with condensation drains on each side, which means customer product will never get wet, regardless of which way the trailer is leaning. As an O/O, I don’t know why you couldn’t easily get 10yrs out a new setup, with a sharp maintenance program.

I’d highly recommend running a fuel additive, like Hot Shots EDT, to the recommended dosage. It’ll help your injectors and pump last longer and your DPF to stay cleaner, with the ULSD and bio fuels we’re forced to run. I can usually hear my injectors quiet down, within 10 miles of a dosage, because of the additional lubricity.

 

I stopped at a loves in Abilene, for my 30, right after the recent freeze. I backed in to a spot that sloped backwards. End of break, I couldn't get traction to get out. I spent an hr chopping ice down to pavement with a hammer and screwdriver. Finally got ot. But I found that the automatic is so difficult to finesse in that situation. I'm sure I would've had an easier time with a manual . Also the ran out of fuel that day, and I got a busted airline from road ice