Time for New Trucks....Seeking Advice

You’re in a tough spot.
With just two trucks I’d either go with the older pre emission ones and just rebuild them , or get new ones.
And which new one depends on your needs. Distance , weight , need a sleeper or no ?
Potential resale ?

I know people who drive at two different small fleets in Atlanta , one runs all new W900s and trades them in before the warranty runs out, and the other fleet runs all older pre emission trucks and maintains them very well. Mostly Pete 389s ,
Just to look at em you’d never know they were 25 yr old trucks.

As for the financing that’s something you’re going to have to explore on your own,
Contact your local non mega bank, and also talk with the dealer.

a new W900 spec’ed for heavy haul is $200k , not familiar with the highway hauler spec’ed ones , but easily sells for $85 - 95k when its four years old with less than 300k miles on it.
They have a couple of W9s coming up for sale soon,
KW said the new ones are rolling out of Oregon next week.

I’m sure the highway hauler spec is considerably less money.

You’ll just have to run the numbers and see.
If it was me I’d get older pre emission trucks and rebuild them and keep an old truck that a dealer is gonna offer you $6k trade on for , for a spare.

 

Looking for new trucks is difficult sometimes due to the number of choices out there. Do your drivers stay out overnight? Need fridges or on board storage? Do you haul heavy loads? Are there a lot of hills where you typically run? So many variables to consider.
Here's an example: I run all 48 states but at different times of the year. I'm in the lower 1/2 of the country during winter and run the north during spring & summer. I stay out a long time, sometimes 3 to 4 months at a stretch (no husband, kids or anyone to bother me) so I bought a truck that I'm comfortable living in for extended periods with an on-board apartment. I'm also almost never at customers who have tight turning radius areas so a longer wheel base is fine for me.
Once you narrow down your hauling style and where your customers are you can start to narrow down what truck fit those criteria.

Happy shopping.......Sophia

 

I used to say that I would never ever own an automatic. And frankly the old automatics were horrible to drive and not dependable.

When the Endurant came out a few years ago it really changed the game. From my understanding it was a collaborative effort between Cummins and Paccar. I decided what the heck I’ll buy one and give it a try. It’s a tremendous setup and feels like a car shifting. None of the jerking around of the Eaton. Also, for backing into a dock, you put it in R, and take your foot off the brake. It’ll maintain exactly 2 mph so just cover the brake and ease it right in. The Jake brake has 4 settings from slight braking to very heavy braking. You also can put it into manual mode if you’d like it to do something different for climbing s hill or whatever it may be.

I decided to put an “old timer” in it who I trust and I figured if anyone would not like it, it would be him. Well, he fell in love and couldn’t be happier.

With that feedback and fuel increase of .75 over my T 680 with X15 but 13 speed then I decided the next year to buy 2 more to replace older 680’s with 10 speeds and ISX. I saw about 1.5 mpg improvement and again the drivers love them.

At that point I decided every truck from there on would be an auto and now 8 of the 10 trucks in the fleet are this setup. By this fall 10 of 11 trucks will be this setup.

My fleet average is 7.5 with drivers ranging from 7.1 up to 8.3 mpg. With this mid life update to the 680, I’m hoping for another 5% improvement.

As far as financing, I use a small town local bank. I’ve been anywhere between 3.75 and 4.99% depending on market conditions with interest rates. Right now it’s in the 3.75 to 3.99 range. My goal is to start paying cash for them but hadn’t quite got their yet. Trailers I’m buying outright now at least so it takes time. The dealer financing I don’t even look at. Even with good business and great credit, they would be around 7 or 8%.

Lastly, I’ve found it much cheaper to own and run brand new trucks then anything 2nd hand or older. I’ll never go that route again. Do buy the 5yr 500k extended warranty on the motor. It’s only $5500 and that includes towing coverage. Cheap insurance.

Hope this helps!

 

Edit.

PM me if you’d like.