Should I wait to become an Owner Op? Will truck prices lower?

There is a whole lotta truth right there^^^

 

I have my truck for sale in classifieds section.

 

If you do decide to buy, make sure you bring it to a trusted mechanic first. Happily Retired had a lot of good points, but I sent one guy to look at a nice looking old Western Star and turned out the frame had been patched on both sides with plates for cracks in the frame. Another guy bought a nice old Transtar and didn't wipe away the grease on the frame, which was hiding a crack in the frame. He ended up with a truck he couldn't use. Gotta check all the crossmembers, frame rails, electrical harness, etc. and ask to see the maintenance records. Know what you're looking for in those and it's a must that you take it to a shop for a COMPLETE inspection. I once brought a KW to a dealer to have them look it over. They had like a 110 point inspection (or whatever it was) and found out the hard way that they had missed some pretty important stuff. I probably would not have bought the truck if I had known how much work it really needed. Ended up rebuilding it from the radiator to the rear end over the next 12 years.
Just because an O/O is selling his own truck doesn't mean he is necessarily honest.
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I'd recommend looking for a pre-eld truck, unless you don't mind running an eld. The other great bonuses are you won't have to deal with DEF, which there is a looming shortage, as well as the chip shortage to read the DEF level and if that chip/sensor goes bad, the truck will soon shut down. The other bonus is you won't have EGR and that is another group of sensors you don't need to be dealing with.

You can still find a decent deal if you look long enough for the right truck. I've seen a few. Most are way over-priced, though.
Don't think you're gonna make big bucks with most of the brokers out there. They don't care about your success, no matter how nice they might talk to you or how they might say they can keep you busy..
What kind of trailer are you intending on pulling?
What region are you planning on operating in?

 

Will truck prices lower?

Of course they will. As soon as we hit constant $10pm they will seam to be cheaper.

 

This is the way.

I got my FLD120 at the start of Rona, in 5/20, for 15k. It would probably sell for 30k now, but that’s still considerably cheap for the current situation. 175k on a REMAN 12.7/13 speed.

Of course if you’re a “need cool” or “need new” for 100k+ it may not be the best time. But if you’re like this guy and me, just get it bought and get moving. I’m nabbing 7500 a week and working 4:30am-3:00pm (or so) daily. If you’ll do OTR the possibilities are endless.

 

I did the same. I bought the ultimate POS. Runs everyday for now. New engine being built. But I’m still making a lot of money with it. I did put a lot of money and repairs into it to make it road worthy. It was a lot of little stuff and I did most of the work. There are a lot of guys on here who would have slapped me if they knew all the details. But it worked. I don’t suggest doing it how I did it but I also wouldn’t talk one out of it.

 

hell yeah! Cheap freightliner gang! Mine’s a ugly sob but all the money is under the hood!

 

This is a better time to be a company driver in my opinion because you can take advantage of higher wages with no business risk. Markets go up and down I would not want to be holding the bag on a expensive rig if/when the market drops. And if that should happen, prices will fall from people selling equipment they can't afford.

I think it was John Rockefeller who said "buy when there's blood in the streets"

 

I couldn't guess at the total amount invested. But was a 13k truck with a broke trans when I started.