You paid how much for a truck?

A new vehicle offers a oppertunity to run a couple hundred thousand miles without excessive or any downtime worth speaking of. Our brand new century in 2001 had less than 20 miles on it and we put 221K on that thing first year as a team. Two alternators, two bricked auto trans reboots after wrecker calls (Because you have to shut down truck 20 minutes every 4 days at a minimum to clear the software buffer on transmission or it bricks on you. As a team we never shut down.) and a few hours of trouble with the occasional overheat or thirsty coolant easily resolved... was about all we had that year.

I say about 3000 dollars in shop billing plus around 4000 dollars for a set of new virgin rubber all around for winter work on all 10 tractor positions. FFE was generous enough to allow us that kind of requestion because we were a team fixing to go into the worst of the rockies during winter.

The same could be said for the '83 COE I ran in the NE for almost a year. No alternator problem but a passenger heater core hose failure during winter and a water temp sensor replacement. But every sunday it was church time in the shop wrenching on this and that and something else because we are fixing to leave out in a few hours to the NE and not be back for anything a week. And it was fun to be under that thing wrenching away. You get a lot of learning that way. I can almost still function as a shade tree mechanic today if I had to.

I would not purchase a new vehicle. It would be nice but it's not in the cards. I have actually bought in mid 90's a FLD mid roof for about 41K as part of a program designed to have that paid off in 4 years, a engine fund hopefully untouched along with a certain amount of money free and clear as a one truck OO with a option to purchase more trucks, become a fleet and hire people. It did not work out that way for reasons beyond this topic for me personally. It was a very nice FLD for it's time out of a herd of 30 trucks with problems, this one had no problems needing immediate shop attention and not too many miles on it. I think it was around 250K enough to be really broken in. Took her out for a spin, found it to be ungoverned and really frisky. 425 Kitty frisky. But not really big 500 or 600 horse wallet munching fuel monsters. Thinking back on it I guess im happy that the good lord did not allow that particular purchasing to stand because economic issues showed up not too many years into the late 90's

 

Chance to get good truck from used inventory is less then hit a lottery jackpot.
Everything what is for sale already with problems to come soon. It's why it for sale.
Mega fleet mechanics are no better then mega fleet drivers.
New truck is option for those who want to keep it long time. Everything what is bad from the factory will fall under warranty. The rest will be in good hands and last much longer then fleet maintained.

 

Why do we do it?? To piss people like you off and then laugh at you for posting rediculess rants like this.

 

I paid $186,500 Cdn for a 2016 Cascadia heavy spec 600 hp DD16, 46,000 lbs rears, heavier frame.
After purchase, upon putting all my stuff in the truck I found the customs paperwork with a declared value of $96,061 usd. Or about $133,000 Cdn. So between Freightliner and the dealer there is a $50,000 profit.

 

I bought my previous truck in 2002, it was a 2000 model with a pre emissions CAT and 150,000 miles on the truck.

I replaced that truck in 2015, it had 1,350000 miles on it with one inframe and one set of rearends (transmission was wore out but original).

In 2010 all the guys in California started buying new trucks with emission motors to keep California happy, I held off for 5 years just to be obstinate.

In that 5 year window where I was driving the oldest truck I ran circles around the new trucks, they were in the shop constantly with emission malfunctions; every time I mentioned buying a new truck my dispatcher would say "No! You are the only truck I have that I know will complete his dispatch every day!"

I finally bought a 2013 truck in 2015 (I always buy 2 year old trucks, the old timers know why). My maintenance costs most certainly have not gone down, the only thing that has gone down is my fuel economy; by about 20% compared to my pre emissions CAT motor.

 

Obviously something pisses you off about it cause you're here ranting about it cause there was nothing informative or educational about your post.

 

Your certainly correct not understanding the the shiny truck syndrome.I dont get it either.
But on the flip side-there are a few entrepreneur's that venture into the syndrome,knowing full well that they are testing the waters.Instead of buying a 20k truck-putting another 10k into it to make it "reliable",pass a dot-etc,then run that truck for a year hoping you dont put another dime into it-They instead throw down a few grand,have 1500.00$ a month payments,have a bumper to bumper warranty(worthless or not-read it)n can look good going down the road for a year.
At that point-a guy can look at the spreadsheet n decide if the figures line up to your satisfaction-or-realizing that o/o isnt for me.
So after a year,if the dude doesnt like the o/o side of the business,he can walk away w/a minimal investment.Instead of a possible 30k + investment,n now you gotta sell a truck thats barely worth the 20k you originally bought it for.
I remember back in 1990-i wanted my own truck-i didnt have 20 grand.
Took me 20 yrs of working to pay cash for my trucks.
Like i said-your right-doesnt make sense,a mortgage,4 kids,child support n shiny truck syndrome are a un-understandable mix.
But not all out there have the syndrome.Most maybe-but not all.Ron White said it best,you cant fix stupid!

 

I think how you drive it, and care for it means a lot. I can tell after a good test drive how somebody drove it before me as far as shifting goes. Was it a pro or a gorilla. Did they double a lot or float grind.

As far as maintenance / repairs, I think some savvy is needed here as to what the known issues are, and have they been dealt with yet.

I think some savvy and luck are needed when you get one, that it doesn't nickel and dime you too death, especially right out of the box. Other than that, if you don't run the guts out of it, don't idle it to death, it will take care of you.

Now a new truck. A brand new truck.............. I probably have 15 years left before they throw me out. If I had a brand new truck tomorrow, it would be the last one I ever had.