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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;theSoz, post: 9984800, member: 293576&quot;]I certainly understand family issues and as far as I&#039;m concerned family comes first. </p><p><br /></p><p>So here&#039;s my two cents.</p><p><br /></p><p>Questions</p><p><b>1. New Truck or Used (250k or less mileage)</b></p><p>That&#039;s really a personal preference thing and what you&#039;re comfort and skill levels are when it comes to repairs. If you buy used, make sure you get it checked out. There&#039;s a great thread about all the things you should have checked out before you buy.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>2. New reefer or Used (TK, Carrier, What do you consider acceptable hours)</b></p><p>Again, what kind of risk are you willing to take? How well was the unit taken care of? Are you buying someone else&#039;s problem? </p><p><br /></p><p><b>3. APU TK or Carrier?</b></p><p>That&#039;s a never ending debate, you&#039;re gonna find fan boys for each. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>4. MCC and Broker? Or lease-on on to carrier?</b></p><p>Given the current state of the economy and a likely recession on the horizon and the anemic freight rates, I wouldn&#039;t be stepping out on my own right now personally. Lease on to a carrier and let them be your buffer. Find a walk away lease and shield yourself from the potential economic downturn. That probably answers some of your other questions above too. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>5. How much cash on hand?</b></p><p>You should have at least 6 months emergency fund. Depending on your expenses that could be a lot or a little. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>6. Best place to get financing? Or sell the house and buy it up front?</b></p><p>That&#039;s an interesting question. If you&#039;re going all in on this O/O thing you&#039;re probably not going to be home much, at least not at first. If you&#039;re single and can live out of your truck, maybe sell the house. You could also rent it out while you&#039;re away. Do you live in an area that allows rentals, etc. It also depends on your mortgage, is it almost paid for, just starting out. Can you carry the cost comfortably while you&#039;re on the road?</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>7. How much should I have in a maintenance/tire account?</b></p><p>If you lease on to someone they&#039;ll probably have that figured into the deal but it&#039;s usually 10-25cents a mile. If you buy or lease try to find a full maintenance lease. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>8. Factoring?</b></p><p>See above</p><p><br /></p><p><b>9. ELD cost?</b></p><p>Lots of options, upfront cost are usually a few hundred bucks and a small monthly fee, especially for one truck. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>10. Anything else to add to the equation?</b></p><p>Figure out the numbers. Figure out how many days you want to run a month and then how much you need to make each day. Then find out how to do that with the least amount of miles. Sometimes two smaller runs are better than one longer run. Figure how you want to run, where you want to run, and what type of loads. </p><p><br /></p><p>Honestly, in this economy, I&#039;d go with something like Schneider&#039;s choice board. Get yourself one of these walk away lease, and get hooked up with them if you can. At least there you&#039;re in charge of your own destiny. I like their board because it&#039;s click and go. You don&#039;t have to spend time on the phone negotiating or relying on a broker, you&#039;re in charge... You pick your loads, you decide when you work and where you go. etc.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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