THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program

Well as the whirlwind of incompetence spins around in Charlotte I tell them I'm going to sleep and will check my Qualcomm messages when I wake up.

They don't want to pull the load off me, but they can't find me a trailer, and I'm 3 hours into a 10 hour break still awake, so I told them to have it figured out by the time I wake up.

Off to bed.

 

That sounds like a really great deal to me!

 

Well, brother I'm kinda in the same boat, and this is how I look at it.......

About 16 months ago, I leased a 2009 Cascadia with 385k on the clock. In June of next year, my 2 year lease will be up, and the residual will be $24k. At that time, I will write a check for $24,000 (less whatever I have left in my maintenance acct......probably $10,000++....sooooo, I will write a check for $14,000). Then.......
1. I will OWN a truck that I know how it's been driven and who has driven it for the last 2 years and 250k+/- miles.
2. I will KNOW it's relevant maintenance history.
3. I will KNOW what's right with it, and what needs to be fixed (if anything at all......because, you see, the current driver is real funny about keeping stuff in top condition and uses his maintenance account as it was meant to be used).
4. I will no longer have to deal with the idiots at PAACAR and have to get permission any time I want to spend MY money.
5. I will fall out of roughly $800 a week in payments. Annualized, $41,600.....that on top of the $20,000+ I already saved last year (POST TAX), will mean I can work as hard as I do now (which is not hard at all), live as good as I do now (which is pretty good....(I'm happy anyway)), and still save $60,000++. Annualize that over 5 years which is when I'll probably need a motor and transmission rebuild, and I will have saved over $300,000. I don't think very many 9-5ers or company drivers can say the same.

In the mean time, I will work as hard as I want to work and go where I want to go. Lot's to be said for stickin' it out.......in my calculation, anyway.

Good luck

 

Has a lease ever been terminated for something stupid? I'd think you'd have to really mess up to get yours yanked

 

DFO: Awhile back you gave some tips on how to avoid purchasing previously 'company owned' (abused) trucks. I'm shopping for a truck and want to do the same. I think you might have mentioned staying away from 10-speeds (is that right?) I'm assuming also staying away from Cascadias and Columbias. Any other tips you can provide? (Anyone else feel free to chime in) Thanks!

 

I think thats good advice and terrible advice. Cascadias are in my opinion the most common truck out there so you'll have a ton of crap ones and some good ones also. They are cheaper to fix than any thing else, i think because of the vast dealer network. On any used truck just research it and research it then research it again. Research parts availability, repair costs, where can you get this truck fixed in your AO, find similar trucks and see what has gone wrong with them to give you an idea of what you need to look for and what kind of questions to ask an seller.
Find a good mechanic and get him to go over it with a fine tooth comb. Someone said the best truck is a truck that works. Great Luck in your search im sure the posse will be along shortly with more ideas

 

I think you misunderstood my post a bit. There is nothing wrong with Cascadias and Columbias with 10 speeds. The problem is weeding out the good ones from the ones that have been abused their entire lives. For every one well maintained 10 speed Cascadia out there, there are probably 20 more company ones that aren't worth half of what they are asking. That is why when I search for trucks I avoid 10 speed trucks as this weeds out a very large percentage of fleet trucks and makes it easier for me to narrow down the specific truck I'm looking for. I don't want a 10 speed anyway, but many other o/o don't care and would be perfectly happy with a 10 speed in their truck.

Are you seriously thinking about buying a truck right now though? I remember seeing a post by you a while back about you not being a driver yet and just doing research. Nothing wrong with looking ahead but please man... do not buy a truck with no experience.

 

NO, not buying right now. Just doing the research. I owned and operated my own construction business for 10 years. Worked as a subcontractor for 8 years prior to starting my own business. Definitely know the importance of investing in EXPERIENCE before investing $$$! I've seen your comments about some rookie drivers jumping in and failing. I got the impression that you genuinely care and that is pretty cool. That being said, thank you for your advice.

 

I would just like to point out that it is a miracle that I am able to get out of bed some days. So I'm parked and just sitting in the front seat playing with my phone and listening to the radio, absolutely by no means am I logging my 5 minute post-trip during this time. So I get this bad taste in my mouth, my window is down, its 4am and no one is around and I'm in this lot by myself, so its OK for me to just spit out my window right. I am a truck driver after all, I have expectations I need to live up to.

Anyway, so I lean to spit out my window, apparently quite rapidly, I have no idea why, but as it turns out my window is rolled partially up. So instead of leaning out my window, I slam my face into the partially rolled down window.

It's been a long time since I've been hit in the face by anything and let me just say I slammed my face into that window so hard I was pretty sure I broke my nose or a tooth or something. Turns out all my teeth are intact and my nose is still straight but I did rip open a good chunk of that little piece of skin that is in between the nostrils. I think that is right where the top of the rolled-down window hit my face. After bleeding for a good 10 minutes it finally stopped. I'm unable to lay face down in a pillow my face still hurts so bad.

So yeah... that's all.

 

That'll teach ya ta try and be a typical truck driver instead of the professional you are