Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Update.

Truck is being serviced now. We'll see what they find with the Onguard system network issues.

Checked with the Fyda Freightliner used truck division and they offered 23k to buy the truck - plus they would cover the cost of the truck's current repairs.

Checked the Ritchie Brothers auction results for similar trucks, and they ranged up to 50k for same year, same engine, (with higher prices the lower the mileage of the vehicle,) but none of the trucks in similar condition sold for anything near 25k. Most were in the 40k range. Ritchie Brothers charges a 10-15% commission. There would be fiddly costs and expenses for detailing, etc, as well, but I'd take home roughly 34k from a 40k sale at auction, and the chances of me getting a 40k price at auction for the truck are reasonable based on sales history.

Fyda has pretty much exactly my same truck for sale for 55k, the only difference being that it's white. I'm not selling them the truck at less than half of what they would sell it for.

So I very nicely told Fyda that if they could not offer me 35k for the truck, I'll just pay for the service and move it over to the Ritchie Brothers lot.

I doubt I'll get a call back from Fyda. They lowballed me so hard, I suspect their lot is nearly full and they only wanted the truck if they could steal it.

Ritchie Brothers is something of a risk, as there is no reserve on their sales, but I have receipts for all service done to the truck for the last 2.5 years. It had an engine rebuild done 200k-ish miles ago, and has a custom disconnect switch for the power inverter circuit, which might be of interest to someone who wants to install a better inverter setup than what is currently in the truck.

I'm also starting to work with Crete to transition back to being a company driver. I expect to be living in a hotel for another week before I'm back on the road again. Might have to rent a SUV or Van to move my personal belongings somewhere else to pick up a company truck.

 

Then I have to get the truck there. Definitely doable, but looking at the Ritchie Brothers results from their auctions, I think selling it at auction would be a decent choice. There's a chance I'll get boned by a market downturn, but I doubt the used truck market is going to tank too hard before the new truck market recovers and dealers can get new trucks in less than six months.

 

Eh? I'm just going to drop the thing off at the Ritchie Brothers yard after I get it back from the shop and have Crete's Columbus terminal remove the stickers and take the Peoplegarbage machine out of it.

Still gonna take a few days to make that happen. Then the truck will sit a couple months until the next Ritchie Bros. auction.

I'm in no rush to get my money for the truck.