Reality of my logic

You have to remember, no matter what you do, it always looks better on paper. Hell I have shown real numbers to bankers to get a truck financed, and they were convinced I should be able to buy the bank in a year or so.lol

 

Based on my personal experience I prefer the Detroit but either engine will be good if it's in good shape and taken care of. Me personally, I'm not big on buy cheap and try to run. I don't mind a payment. If I have to have a cheap truck with no payment to make a living then I'm hauling too cheap. If it were me, and I'm not scared of emissions, I'd get a newer used truck and put a little down and keep the rest in my maintenance account. Just my opinion...

A lot of businesses have been started and thrived in down times but the key is to not be under funded. Properly funded a new trucking company could start up and be successful.

 

That's where the maintaince fund comes in.

Add to it every week. Truckers sometimes carouse the weekend and need a tow come monday then whatever shop. And cry about it the following week.

If you love on your tractor, fix this fill that or wipe yonder eventually it's better than your wife, gf or whatever, she might be getting a sniffle that clues you in something isnt right long before the actual break-crisis kicks in.

 

Good on ya starmac, you got the moxie.

 

I was where you are now about a year and a half ago. I ran my own successful company for 30 years and retired from it 10 years ago. I have good business sense, but trucking has a way luring you in and dumping some big surprises in your lap. I was fortunate enough to be able to pay cash for a new truck and reefer trailer, so I don't have those expenses hanging over my head each month. There are so many things that get underestimated like insurance and other set-up costs and fees. Once you are finally ready to start rolling, you discover that very few brokers are willing to work with you because you're so new to the business. Those that will work with you throw you scraps that don't pay well. On top of that we're in one heck of a down-turn right now with very low freight rates.

I'm not trying to discourage you from taking the plunge, but if there is any advice I can offer it is to have a lot more cash on hand than you think you will need. For the first 4-6 months you will work extremely hard to find loads to pay your overhead, and some weeks you'll be ready to head out on a load and see that you don't have enough in your checking account to pay for the fuel from the last load because you haven't been paid for the last 3 loads yet. My point is that there is a huge learning curve and you'll need to figure it all out before you run out of cash in the beginning. Always have a buffer and if you don't think you'll have much of one by the time you're open for business, wait and save a little longer until you are ready. TTR has a wealth of information from thousands of drivers that have done it, and they freely offer great advice. Spend a lot of time searching these forums. You won't regret it.