Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Very true. Been to both Chillicothe and Denton to see trucks being assembled. Lots of manpower. My boss remarked multiple times how many more workers vs assembly plant in Springfield for International trucks when touring KW factory. International is for sure cheaper truck. You reckon you get price break on T680 or T800 that is assembled in Mexico?

 

My wife is my business partner and co- driver, so this is a team operation. Just in case anyone was wondering about that high mileage on a '17.

 

I once toured the Denton facility, it was awesome.

 

That ain't a hood. Freightliner pulled the same dumb idea with the coronado.

 

Classic big hood...

 

It would also be interesting to know how much the mega fleets pay for the trucks.

Are their trucks much cheaper?

If yes, is it because of the larger volume which enables more efficient production, and hence a lower price?
Or do they get the trucks at or near cost, and are small fleets and O/O being screwed?

 

Most of them buy straight from the manufacturer so no dealer costs involved. And there is a large volume discount effect. When you are swift and buying 100 identical trucks a month you can negotiate a much lower price than a guy walking into the local dealer for one truck.

 

I know a mid sized fleet near our shop (over 500) trucks switched to KW some years ago from Freightliner (MBE 4000 didn't do so well). I asked our salesman/store general manager what kind of commission he got off the group of first 50 trucks. He said $0, corporate Paccar does all the big deals while he just gets to clean up the any issues. I know list and what our 50 truck fleet pays isn't exactly close to the same number.

 

Here you can roughly get 10 to 15% off depending on the number off trucks bought.
I know off a few deals were 20% was given but those are rare really big number buys with the trucks being barebone.

 

A T909 (our equivalent of your W900) with a Bit of "Fruit" on It is north of $400,000 here..