The journey begins - purchased a truck.

I'm going to try my hand at flatbed. I need the exercise and a challenge.

 

I don't know yet, only put 50 miles on it driving it home.
I have 2 years of maintenance records on it to go through - but I don't think it'll be in there.

 

1. - No, not yet. I've budgeted about $6,000 for headache rack, chains, binders, straps and tarps. Know of any second hand ones?

2. - We paid cash for the truck - so it's not costing anything to sit in the yard right now. I pulled $4k out of a rainy day fund, $2k out of a general bill fund that ws overstocked, $1k out of a 'truck savings fund', and put $5,500 on an equity line attached to one of the 4 rentals. The trailer purchase I'm still considering - the bank will do me 3.6% interest on a business loan, but can't as I don't have 2 years of business tax returns - or 8.5% as a personal unsecured loan. This will be my only 'note' so to speak - the HELOC on the rental is interest only at 4.99%

We have no mortgages or car notes, and the rental income, so $40k annual income for the household is more than enough. Reason I'm laying all thiis out is to explain that we're going in as low risk as possible, into what my bank manager called a "high risk industry". We're staying with our current employer through the holidays, probably through till March/April - I don't think rookie flatbed woud be a smart decision in January! Until then, we'll be buyinng equipment and saving some cash for startup. Leasing on with LS, so settlements will be short term rather than waiting 30 or 60 days, but there'll be a period of a few weeks where a catastrophic equipment failure will have to go on a credit card until sufficient maintenance reserves are built up.

3. - Other startup costs - Not much, apart from truck shopping. Dyno tests, ECM reports, Rig Dig reports, gas and travel adds up after a while (just look at Double Yellow's thread and his initial shopping experience!) - $50 to file the LLC with the state, $40 for the attorney to research and advise, 2 hours free with the tax man discussing the plan . . . I don't want to pull the trigger oon the trailer until I'm within 3 weeks of starting, but I'm sure it'll happen earlier than planned.

 

It's in surprisingly good shape. I'm the 3rd owner. CFI (1) had it from 2003 till 2013. The dealer told #2 owner that CFI had had only one older driver in it. (#2 said "Yeah - typical dealer line, but that's what they said"). #2 had it from Feb 2013 till now, and it was parked 3 months ago.

#2 owner owns a large construction gig, dump trucks etc. My acquaintance convinced him to buy the truck and lease it on with him - which he did, and then regretted doing so due to a lack of decent drivers willing to work for him. So - my acquaintance puts the 2 of us together, and everybody's happy. He's got plenty of cash - just didn't need the hassle, and wasn't his main line of business anyway. He wouldn't budge on the price either - come to find he paid $23 k for it, and the gearbox and clutch cost him $5k - can't fault him for sticking to the price.

I was starting to despair at the early 2000 truck market too - like you say, ragged out or overpriced. The good ones were gone in a flash - no time for me to get in there and want to run a bunch of tests and have it looked at here there and everywhere, haggle over the price, I started to feel like a pain in the butt to some of these guys.

Though I've read here and heard there, that Freightliners don't hold up as well over time, the difference between a 2004 FL that I test drove, and this one - is night and day. Apart from dirty on the inside, and oxidised paint on the outside, everything was functioning, the cabinets weren't rattling and banging, all the trim/switches/lights/accessories all in good condition and operational. I wasn't ruling anything out - I was all ready to buy a Sterling with over 2 million miles on it for the same price - no sense in refining truck search to brand, I'm not much one for brand support or loyalty.