Where would you purchase your new or used truck?

[pepe4158]

The only thing i would say about e-bay is certanlly dont make it your single source.
I bought my trailer from e-bay, but was more lucky thing of right place, at the right time.

[LexAtlanta]

I work for Arrow Truck Sales in Atlanta. No sales pitch here.....but if you are in the Southeast U.S. send me a PM and we can talk.

[mike3fan]

If a driver were to do his/her homework and know fully what they were getting into (especially with the guidance and assistance of other successful I/C's), this could potentially be a successful business venture in my opinion... :wink:

Oh really? care to elaborate?..... 8)

[heavyhaulerss]

patience is the key. i waited & looked,& looked & looked for months before i bought. get to know the ave selling price for the type of truck your interested in. when i was looking at mine... a 95' walmart cabover with 400,000 miles. i checked other trucks, same year, same miles,cond e.t.c. every pete, k.w. i checked on was 30-35 grand. i paid 15,000 cash for my intl cabover. i'm still driving it. over 8 years now. buy to make money not look good. the thrill of a newer truck wears off long before the payments do. want value ? remember peace of mind is priceless. driving without a truck payment is like walking in your home knowing your house is paid for. this is my experience anyway.

[GMAN]

Good advice, heavyhaulerss. Buy to make money, not look good. There are still a lot of those old Walmart cab-overs on the road. I understand Walmart does a good job on their maintenance. I almost bought one of them myself, several years ago.

[heavyhaulerss]

I dont know how to say this without acting like i'm bragging. so please take my word for it i'm not trying to. people have told me from the beginning. i needed to have a truck payment to have a tax write off.??? instead of putting my money into something that depreciates, i put my earnings into something that appreciate & get my wrtie off that way. my old $15,000 cabover that other drivers had & still make fun of. has enabled me to purchase 8 homes. I own the entire block that i live on. so instead of showing the irs all my big truck payments & related expenses.. i show them maintence, taxes, ins, mortgage % e.t.c. i get the same write off but have more to gain. so thats my story on why i wanted the inexpemsive, hard riding, not so populiar cabover.

[heavyhaulerss]

ohh and thank you g-man for the compliment

[GMAN]

You are welcome, heavyhaulerss. Good for you on the investments. I have been trying to tell some of these guys for years that they don't need big equipment payments to do well. There are other types of deductions which work much better. You have gotten your money out of that old cab-over many times over by now. 8)

[Cyanide]

Cyanide wrote:
If a driver were to do his/her homework and know fully what they were getting into (especially with the guidance and assistance of other successful I/C's), this could potentially be a successful business venture in my opinion... :wink:

mike3fan wrote:

Oh really? care to elaborate?..... 8)

Well, I know a driver here at Superior who is probably going to buy one of those old FLD 112's for an even $10,000 (it's a 2001). Apparently he has been doing some serious homework and number crunching on the issue for the past several months, and has been speaking regularly with several I/C's who are involved with and, quite successful with chemical tankers.

From what I know, the truck he's looking to buy has had some major work performed on it over the last couple of years (apparently he was able to go over the entire maintenance history of it with the terminal manager and lead mechanic) to include the following...
-Recent overhead
-New head
-New rings and seals
-New clutch
-New, remanufactured transmission
-New turbo
-New A/C compressor
-New alternator
-New E.C.M.
-New product pump
-New cab leveler
-New tires and brakes on front drive axle
-New shocks
-New hood
-New front bumper
-New air dam
-Recent front end alignment
-Rest of tires are about 95%

Now the one thing he's not too keen about is that the driveline has aproximately 970,000 miles on it, though the truck did run pretty much non-stop between several drivers on a dedicated account, with many of the miles being empty. But still, that's a lot of miles!!!

Apparently he feels that there's money to be made, especially if he can keep the truck up and running. I know he's over-estimated several of his expenses (namely fuel), and is going to be contributing a lot of extra cash towards his maintenance escrow (abut $250 per week versus the company required $75 for WHEN that rainy day comes!). Basically, it seems that he wants to keep the truck well-maintained, pay the truck off asap, do whatever other major work is necessary (i.e. in-frame and driveline), and just continue running it as long as it can be a dependable, effective money-maker provided being an I/C is as successful a venture as he projects it to be. If not, he will simply go back to being a company driver again with them once a year is up, and will have a truck that is paid for to do with as he pleases.

:wink:

[mike3fan]

Cyanide wrote:
If a driver were to do his/her homework and know fully what they were getting into (especially with the guidance and assistance of other successful I/C's), this could potentially be a successful business venture in my opinion... :wink:

mike3fan wrote:

Oh really? care to elaborate?..... 8)

Well, I know a driver here at Superior who is probably going to buy one of those old FLD 112's for an even $10,000 (it's a 2001). Apparently he has been doing some serious homework and number crunching on the issue for the past several months, and has been speaking regularly with several I/C's who are involved with and, quite successful with chemical tankers.

From what I know, the truck he's looking to buy has had some major work performed on it over the last couple of years (apparently he was able to go over the entire maintenance history of it with the terminal manager and lead mechanic) to include the following...
-Recent overhead
-New head
-New rings and seals
-New clutch
-New, remanufactured transmission
-New turbo
-New A/C compressor
-New alternator
-New E.C.M.
-New product pump
-New cab leveler
-New tires and brakes on front drive axle
-New shocks
-New hood
-New front bumper
-New air dam
-Recent front end alignment
-Rest of tires are about 95%

Now the one thing he's not too keen about is that the driveline has aproximately 970,000 miles on it, though the truck did run pretty much non-stop between several drivers on a dedicated account, with many of the miles being empty. But still, that's a lot of miles!!!

Apparently he feels that there's money to be made, especially if he can keep the truck up and running. I know he's over-estimated several of his expenses (namely fuel), and is going to be contributing a lot of extra cash towards his maintenance escrow (abut $250 per week versus the company required $75 for WHEN that rainy day comes!). Basically, it seems that he wants to keep the truck well-maintained, pay the truck off asap, do whatever other major work is necessary (i.e. in-frame and driveline), and just continue running it as long as it can be a dependable, effective money-maker provided being an I/C is as successful a venture as he projects it to be. If not, he will simply go back to being a company driver again with them once a year is up, and will have a truck that is paid for to do with as he pleases.

:wink:

this "freind" of your's sounds completely insane........

[Kurbski]

Heavyhaulers wrote:

instead of putting my money into something that depreciates, i put my earnings into something that appreciate & get my wrtie off that way.

The sign of an smart business man...I have never owned a new vehicle. And don't plan on it since they are nothing more than a tool. Would I love a New Truck? Of course, but as stated patience is the key and whats a few easy miles after someone else pays the depreciation for driving it off the lot new. As long as it meets your needs, been maintained with records,passed the tests and clean what more can you ask for?

[gbtrucker]

I bought my truck from a small dealer and he let me (insisted), I have it checked out, so I had it dynoed, oil analysis, and put 300 miles on it driving around Dallas in all kinds of traffic. I would hate to have to do that more than once, but it's too scary to me, to not check one out thoroughly.

Its a 2001 FTL, Cummins ISX 450, Smartshift, with 526,000.

I paid 29K, but the truck was exceptionally clean and had no signs of abuse. I looked at a lot of newer trucks that I rejected because of mileage and abuse.

What is considered High Milege on a truck. I understand they last a long time but don't know how long. I see many ads with the miles posted and more without so I consider the ads without the Miles posted are way high.

Newbie here just looking at options because nobody wants to hire me at my age and may have to do it all myself. I drive a 32 ft Tag axle motorhome and the last rig was a 5th wheel so not scared of it.

Thanks

[gbtrucker]

I dont know how to say this without acting like i'm bragging. so please take my word for it i'm not trying to. people have told me from the beginning. i needed to have a truck payment to have a tax write off.??? instead of putting my money into something that depreciates, i put my earnings into something that appreciate & get my wrtie off that way. my old $15,000 cabover that other drivers had & still make fun of. has enabled me to purchase 8 homes. I own the entire block that i live on. so instead of showing the irs all my big truck payments & related expenses.. i show them maintence, taxes, ins, mortgage % e.t.c. i get the same write off but have more to gain. so thats my story on why i wanted the inexpemsive, hard riding, not so populiar cabover.

You got a picture of your Cab Over? I would like to see it and tell me what kind of loads do you get and from who do you get them if not you do your own load deals.

Thanks