The adventures of 'Team Klingon'

LadyK now is the perfect time to express to the others why leasing is not a good idea for solo drivers. If you do not have a good chunk of back of funds in the bank this could very easily put you out of business in no time. Its not even necessarily the cost of the repair that hurts either. Like you stated, you still have to pay for the truck while you are sitting in the hotel for a week. Not to mention at a $100 bucks a pop for one night in a hotel, ouch! Then there is the cab fare getting you from the shop to the hotel back and forth which is usually at a premium! This can sometimes cost more than the hotel itself! Top that all off with costly pizza and chinese food orders because there is nothing around to eat! This is if you are lucky! If there is a two week wait to get into the shop or it takes 4-6 weeks to order a part now you are looking at having to rent a car or rent a truck to continue on.

So let's add this up conservatively.... Lets say it roughly cost $2000 to get your truck fixed. Then lets say it takes a week to get it done including ordering any needed parts. So the hotel will run you $100 a night x 7 = $700. Let's not forget the pizza. Roughly $40 a day for food = $280. Cab ride will be around $100 total for the week. You didn't run any miles but still have to pay for the truck so that's another $1000 for the week. Hubbies pissed so two of the 7 days he drank beer at the hotel = $30 You were bored so you did laundry = $20. This all comes to a total of $4130.00!!! I think this is a pretty conservative estimate for one week of being broke down. With God on your side hopefully it won't happen next week! Not going to see home for 4 months to make up this one!

Am I far off LadyK?

So sorry this happened to you guys. I have been there before and really feel for you guys....

 

LOL.. Not too far off... Thankfully our room is $50/night, we had food on the truck and now a fridge and micro in the room, so only one meal out so far, and the motel has a shuttle to the shop which helps!! But the static costs for the truck ($130/day) is still there, plus the room and the money per day we could have been making (about $300 after fuel, etc??) so a rough average of $400/day times so far this time 5 days... That's $2000!! So it's not just the cost of the truck, but the loss of income.. Because we still have bills at home too that isn't included in these totals... We are praying that this shop will do the job right and we won't be down again for MONTHS!! Maybe even a year.. LOL!

 

Well last Saturday the truck went into the shop... Not to get started on until Monday... It is now Thursday and we are hoping it will be out today... Already lost one loop of our run, hoping not to lose put of another!! This break down is really hurting us!!

 

Hope things improve very soon !

 

We hope so too!!

 

Well after 5 days and $200 later (some stuff was off warrantee) OH and $400/day with no money coming in... We are back on the road! Woo Hoo!! Now Lord PLEASE let us run some miles until you sideline us again!!

 

I love this thread. I have learned so much from it.
I am heading to school shortly and I feel much more prepared for the realities of the business as opposed to any unrealistic notions I might have had.
I am grateful to LadyK and Klingon for continuing to post updates about their ups and downs on the road.

 

Thanks guys... And the 'Adventure' continues...

Drove 500 miles from Albuquerque, NM to Phoenix, AZ to get back in our lane and pick up our load... Dropped our MT, slept for 3 hours, woke up, started engine and was greeted by 2 check engine lights... Figured those out, low coolant level... Added some, then noticed a wet engine block with fluid leaking onto the pay line... So we are now at the Tolleson Freightliner dealer...

Kudos to Central though... We have kept them in the loop, and they have now gotten a Detroit rep involved... We'll see where it goes from here, but our load to get us back in our lane gets here tomorrow AM!!

PLEASE get this truck fixed and fixed RIGHT!!

Yep... These are the realities of leasing/owning your own truck... Can't just slip seat to a running truck and forget about the old one... Really thankful for warrentees right now!

 

LadyK please continue on with your thread. I believe it is a wealth of information for anyone thinking of driving, leasing etc... Especially unique and informative for perspective husband/wife teams. Besides that, I really enjoy you sharing your personal experiences with us and letting everyone know the truth good or bad and all of your ups and downs. I know for sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

Please do not stop posting due to the moron's post on the other page!

Drive safe guys...

 

LadyK, regarding your breakdowns, be sure to keep track of every single little thing that is happening, ie: breakdowns, rentals, hotels etc.... Not only can you write this off but when we had the same type of problems while we were in our Volvo, Central actually got us a settlement from them for over $23,000 because we kept track of everything it cost us due to breaking down.