Ready to purchase

First, OUCH, $160k+?!? WTF.

Ok, pealed myself off the ceiling. Make sure you are VERY committed to not going to CALI and that you are going to be in this for the very long run.

We are already seeing the CARB rate spike, the effects of the non-CARB compliant sell-off and the spike in CARB compliant used tractors. I don't believe all this is going to last or I would be running to CA to work on accounts but it will not go down to earlier levels and the flip side is the west of Mississippi rate slide will likely stick at some level.

BTW, if asked by any larger broker about age of tractor, make sure you tell them an age that is CA legal. No need being pegged as someone that can't go west when you are looking for a load in TX, OK, CO, ect. Message came from ex-CHR employee.

 

I know a few contractors that have multiple Fitzgerald gliders and run them with teams 5 days a week 5,000-6,000 miles a week. They are good trucks. They all have the Coronado which is a good truck. We have one with over a million miles. I run it as a spare truck but can't keep drivers from wanting to drive it. I don't get as many asking that I am getting new trucks in. If a glider is what you are looking for I would highly recommend Fitzgerald from what I know of them.

 

$164? Wow my 2013 loaded 780 was $136k, negotiated it down to $128, you need to do some shopping.

 

Maybe trucks also work like medication?

 

I think you can buy a lot of truck at discounted prices today in this market, just at the papers and see the new trucks sitting, people are scared of the new engines with the def fluid , especially after all the problems with DPF trucks, a lot of those on the market too and at great deals , it's unfortunate that it takes the value out of them and clog the DPF and its decent money to clean it. And just what do you save by regening? Stupid tree huggers, it takes more fuel and exhaust gases than if it could breath free anyhow! Just my two cents.

 

It is true, supply and demand controls the market on truck pricing. I got my 2013 glider, ordered from the factory, loaded, for $112K. Some of the newer stuff can be negotiated down for sure, but the life cycle operation cost would be much higher. It is a tit for tat deal. Depends on what you need and where you need to run it. Obviously, running in and out of CA makes the choice one sided.

And it isn't so much about saving the environment as some would suppose. It is more about regulation and restriction. In other words, stacking the deck and controlling the players involved. While some environmental regulations make sense, like being against the law to dump your used oil down the city sewer drain, much of what passes for "environmentalism" is nothing more than repackaged socialist ideology.

 

Actually it's much worse than socialism it's fascism. Mega corps with all the money,power,and influence working hand in hand with government to create onerous, costly,burdensome red tape that they can maneuver which create huge hurdles for small upstart wannabe competitors. This is what is behind eobr mandate. It's what drives all proposed regulations. The big boys want everything and they work with government to make it happen. John D Rockefeller famously said competition is a sin. . Banks too big to fail and none of the head honchos of them will ever see the inside of a prison cell to pay for their criminal activities,the government gives them free money. That is fascism nothing free market or capitalist at all about it. You sink or swim with capitalism .

 

I think thats a little far fetched. Do you really think all these big corporations/companies want to get rid off all the little guys? It's us little guys that haul the majority of the freight, without us they are screwed. They keep making laws for two reasons, one because the laws they have already enacted have done little to nothing to change anything in the environment, and two it's a justification for job security on they're part.

 

I look at it broader than trucking. There are so many small companies that are outsourced to by the so-called big boys. If ABC widgets specializes in making a widget the big boys need, and they can do it at a cheaper cost, why not have them do it. Contrary to what it would seem on the surface, America is still the largest manufacturing base in the world. Sure, most mega companies have moved production outside of the country, but we have an extremely large manufacturing base done by less than 100 employee type operations.

Now, true, government wants to sink their talons into every one running one of those business', but it seems a little strange that the big companies would want to force them out of existence. Government, by its very nature, wants to always expand and control. That is what government does, regardless of country or time in history. Business', regardless of what they do, their primary motivation is the investors who they owe money to and making a profit. If I am making cars, for instance, but another company can make valves for the engines cheaper and better than I can, I am going to outsource that task to them. Why waste my time trying to reinvent the wheel? Same for wiring harness', seats, headliners, wheels, tires, steering wheels, dash switches, etc. I will worry about final assembly.