Should You Buy a Truck in 2021?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by SeanQ, Nov 23, 2021.

  1. Tug Toy

    Tug Toy Road Train Member

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    It’s great that you have cash in the bank. Trucking is a viable business. But if the business model cannot support itself without you buying into it with cash it won’t work for you. I had some cash and some more cushion when I started. That being said I started with a cap of $10k. If I needed more cash than that I would of got out. Here I am 6 years later. The business paid me back all my $10k the first year AND replaced my salary of my previous job. Now it supports my wife also as well as some additional real estate holdings. Yes some of the money is from low interest loans from a traditional bank but my cash is pretty safe and affords me the ability to make smart no pressure decisions about my business.
     
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  3. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Did you mean to quote somebody else?
     
  4. Brandonpdx

    Brandonpdx Road Train Member

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    Ask 10 different people in here how he should spend his nearly half million dollars you'll get about 11 or 12 different answers. If he's serious about making it happen and being successful he will be. Until they invent the star trek transporter the industry will be a viable one for the relatively long term despite gold rushes coming and going.
     
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  5. Brandonpdx

    Brandonpdx Road Train Member

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    Let's go...me? (lol)
     
  6. Tug Toy

    Tug Toy Road Train Member

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    Yeah I guess so? Was responding to the OP
     
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  7. ForTheFam2020

    ForTheFam2020 Bobtail Member

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    Sitting on $450K of cash and you're talking to us about if you should buy a truck? lol
    1. Leave California - there's no reason to throw away money in that state. Just my opinion though.
    2. Buy a truck cash - and it doesn't have to be brand new.
    3. Enjoy running and not having a payment, but build the capital back.
    4. When rates drop, you're safe - no truck payment.
     
  8. seamutt

    seamutt Light Load Member

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    Maybe your question should have been, "Can I even buy a new truck in 2022"? Talk to a few dealers. I doubt any of them will be able to give you a firm/no equivocations 2022 delivery date (let alone one for 2021).
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2021
  9. danny23tx

    danny23tx Road Train Member

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    Find up incoming medium to small city that maybe just got a new high-tech factory or HQ coming to town and purchase multi family units . Might be a 10 yr investment but passive income and a 30 to 40% on return would be better spent .
    We bought a foreclosure for 110k and is now valued @ 550k -600k , my same home is renting for 2.4k a month 2 houses down . There are bidding wars on property in my city , its common to get a 100k over projected value. You find the right city and it will pay off .
     
  10. Plsdontflip

    Plsdontflip Light Load Member

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    A couple industry guys I talked to said they don't see the rates going down to where they once was next 10 years if ever. With the truck shortage and semiconductor shortage that had already been said by the Japanese facility will take years to get back to normal, I don't see the rates going anywhere. Also, e commerce is seeing exponential growth year after year. This will keep truckers busy forever imo, as people are just getting lazier and lazier and companies can't keep up. My uncle is a corporate attorney and prior to that he was an economist, and he said something convoluted about inflation and and how pay demand vs if it was dropped would ruin the industry and any bigwig shipper knows that. Basically you can't feed your wife wagu steak for 3 years then try to give her pork chops she will spit on you and find a new husband. So I think yeah now is a good time to buy, just very, very, carefully with the intent of paying cash OR paying off your rig in no more then 1 year.
     
  11. Plsdontflip

    Plsdontflip Light Load Member

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    Oh also new cdl drivers are coming out of school expecting no less than 1300 a week or so, what do you think all those guys will want when they are experienced and 60% of the driver pool in 2 to 3 years? Yeah drop it back down to 2 or less a mile nationwide average and you will see a trucker shortage..
     
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