Im not saying that Ryder is the answer for everyone, but it has worked for us a few times. When we were looking at a truck, they gave us a printout of everything done to the truck up until that date. We could use that to see what major has already been done, and what major "COULD" need done in the future.

You guessed it, they will all tell you what you want to hear, but most dont have any of that info, unless it was a sold off lease, if you purchase it from a company(Werner and Bowman are ones that come to mind), or if the dealer you are purchasing it from did all the work.

Thats another good reason to have some backup $$, because you dont know what you are really getting. If you have the opportunity, even pay another garage to look over everything 1st. Yeah it might cost you some $$, but its cheaper than a 35k lesson.

Just like a used car, if the driver was rough on the inside, he/she was rough on the outside as well. Keep your eyes open, and ask questions.

I see alot of people getting good deals on vans from other trucking companies as well. Check thier websites and see what they have in thier "equipment for sale section"

Hope this helps

 

Thanks GMAN
Thanks, Thejunkman.
Some of these blogs and news articles reports that the Nov tonnage was down 8% from last year. This they say looks bad for the spring if the trend continues. a slowing economy
Other stories indicate that spring is the time when O/O's on the edge are going to be bailing out because of fee's due, for which they don't have the money and,
It seems some bought a lot of 2006's to escape the 2007 fuel thing (don't quite understand what that is about yet)
With all these things in the works, does that mean that this spring could be the right time to buy when a large surplus exists

 

Most companies have placed the orders for 2006 trucks due to the added EPA updates needed for better emissions. This has raised the priced of a Late build 2007 truck up about 10-12,000 bucks. When you couple that with a few thousand trucks its a lot of money. Plus the articles I have seen, most of the big companies havent had enough time to do extensive testing on the new emissions items and this new fuel. I saw where Schneider placed an order for a few few amount of 2007 emissions trucks, and a heavy order on the 2006-7 pre-emissions trucks.

I wouldnt sweat the numbers right now about freight, I think the winter that 90% of american is getting, has contributed to the price of freight, etc.

Generally speaking, the winters usually always drop off, but take that with a mild winter, so freight is moving faster than with bad weather spells, so there are more trucks, moving more miles, and less available freight=less money per mile....supply vs demand.

 

The new engines are not getting very good mileage. Some aren't even getting 5 mpg. It is a good reason to buy 2006 rather than 2007.