Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

I’m financing the new one for 6 years at 1242 a month or if they only give me 5, it will be about 1450 a month. I’m paying 875 a month on what I have now and drinks fuel. I’ve been paying extra on my current trailer at 1100 a month. The cost difference isn’t that great. There are plenty of used trailers but they don’t have the specs I want regarding the reefer unit, insulation, axle width, super Singles, type of bulkhead, etc. If I’m spending this kind of money, I want a trailer with my exact specs that I know will improve fuel mileage, via aero devices, and efficiency from the reefer unit. You can put a new unit on an old trailer, dealers do it all the time to get more money from you, but the problem on the older trailer is not the reefer but the insulation, liner, subpan, and floor. These things have substantial losses in efficiency by the time you reach 7 years.
Frozen loads are the large majority of what I do. I get some fresh meat here and there. I have hauled 2 dry loads since starting this last May. I’ve got to have maximum performance for the volume of frozen I do.

 

I’ll always run singles. Less weight, better fuel mileage, and easy to take care of. I get great wear out of the ones I have. The only time I’ve had issues was when my trailer cane with recaps and I ended up dumping them ASAP after two failed. Onesingle is the same price as two duals. The cost per wheel end is the same.

You’re correct on the fuel rate. But when it runs all day and most the night and never shuts off? I’ve been spending about 1000.00 a month on reefer fuel. That is way too much. With a new trailer and unit spec’d to my needs, I’m confident I can cut my fuel bill by at least 30% not too mention the different aero device im getting will give me a bump in fuel mileage as well.

 

With this different aero device, new insulation, and moving away from a fully belt driven reefer, it will more than offset the additional 300 bucks max this new one will cost a month. The 30% is a conservative estimate. The unit alone, claims a 26% savings, not too mention another .10 mpg from the different style of skirt I’m going with. At worst, it will be a wash as far as money is concerned but I gain a trailer that will actually maintain temp and not have to scream at high speed all day and all reach temp at night once or twice, as well as reduced maintenance cost. I have ABS gremlins right now and with the reefer running so much on the frozen loads, that’s going to catch up to me as well. I’ll also have the ability to default into low speed when it’s being loaded or unloaded. There are still plenty of places that will not let me turn it off. That also saves money and maintenance. This particular reefer unit is also designed to dramatically lower costs compared to a traditional fully belt driven design. The goal is to run it for 7 years with 1-2 years of it being paid for and repeat the process again. If you look at it in the 7 year big picture, it is most definitely a good deal.
I even have it spec’d with a certain interior liner that’s more durable than the standard liners you see in most trailers, the axles are wide track, maximizing tire life, composite-bonded scuff instead of aluminum, etc. Anything I could think off to drive down costs and eliminate maintenance events, I’ve put it into this trailer. I wanted to do 2.5” walls but I wouldn’t be able to get 30 pallets without running the risk of tearing up the walls too much, so Ingad to stick with 2” there. Even the landing gear is something not standard and requires zero service and has a 10 year warranty.

 

I’m wiring the guy the deposit today and the order will be officially placed tomorrow. I’ll get the trailer between January and March.

 

Ran my fuel for the quarter and I got 8.63 mpg. I’d really like to get it closer to 9 but most of my loads are 72k and up with only a few lighter loads here and there in the 65-68k range and I’ve maybe done two loads that were around 58-60k this quarter, deadhead was 16% overall. I get my worst fuel mileage going across the turnpike in PA and when I have to run south from PA, MD, DE to NC, GA, SC, and AL. Especially when I’m leaving DE until I get past Richmond heading South.