There is no way to tell what the secondary market for big trucks will be in a few years. I would expect that you should still be able to find a good truck for under $20,000. If you have enough money saved to pay cash then that is what I would do. It is much better to start a business without any debt. If you can find something in good shape and pay cash you can continue putting money aside to trade up as you want. You will save a lot of money on interest.


There seem to be quite a few trucks running from Quebec and Ontario into the northern border states such as Michigan and New York. When I was running Canada a lot I seem to remember quite a few trucks who ran back and forth between these two provinces. When you are trying to project events such as freight lanes several years in the future there is no way to tell with a high level of accuracy what the rates are availability of freight will be at that time. With all the government involvement in two of our major industries it is likely to skew what would be much easier to predict. If we were dealing with a free market then it would be much easier to make projections. Historically, trucking has had certain freight lanes that have done well. It has also had seasonal changes that were pretty predictable. The last year or so has changed that cycle.

 

I check the for sale ads every now and again and I don't often see much that catches my eye for under $30. I'd say you're looking at $40 to $50 K (Cdn). But of course if you're regional then you won;t be putting as many miles on the truck so you might be able to get a high miler and make it last a while.

I'm based in ON and I can only think of 1 ON - ON move that I've done (for a broker) in the last 3 years. It was a local move.....~30miles. 14' - 1" high. You might be able to make a little seasonal money moving corn, wheat etc with a dump box. The only broker frieght thing that pays worth a damn IMO is oversize to QC. Your business has to be registered in QC in order to get permits and that weeds out some guys I guess. And it's still not great....$2.50/mile CDN + permits would be on the high side.

No. I was talking about before the bust. I think the money is made by running tons of miles in the corridor.

 

Well that bites. What about running into the North? Same bad rates? (I was talking to a broker who said that these days you can get loads going North, but not returning South.)

The scenery's better than the 401 though!

 

Anyone quoting a northern Ontario rate should include the DH miles back to Toronto.

 

Some more questions:

1. I know that much of the freight out there is not available via the loadboards - but still, are they a decent indicator of the freight volume between destinations?

2. When it comes to securing cargo, how strong are the sides of a rack & tarp kit as compared to a van?

 

Anyone?