Buying my own truck
 

I'm going to buy a truck and need to know the cost of plates,permits,Ins. and anything else i've missed. I have 2 years otr exp. So does my co-driver. I'm not sure if I should get my own autority or not. I've heard several people say I shouldn't for a while.

Yeah good question, my father in law just bought a truck and said he paid about 1800 but some of the was for taxes(used truck) he only had the surrounding 5 states around NC sc,tenn,ga,va.... so iwould think about 1200 plus the states your going to put on there.

Re: Buying my own truck
 

Hmmm the cost will vary dramatically whether you lease-on versus own authority.
1.To lease- you only need tractor Ins....company should do all the rest in most lease agrements

2. Own authority- You need tractor AND trailer cargo Ins.....most Ins. brokers will know how to set you up this way, mine did.
You need then your, MC#, DOT#, and IRP program through your state that varies thru state to state, with your IRP you will pay your IFTA and get your cab card. I needed someone to hold my hand thru it all cuz I was really green (pay agencies as OOIDA and Bracken), now that Ive done it, I am suprised it was so easy really, but when you first go thru it the task looks enormous.

Thanks

I just paid a little over $1,400 per truck for my base plates. We no longer have SSR so that is about a $250/yr expense we don't have right now. I would say that your base plates should run about what mine do in Tennessee. Some states can run around $2000 or so.

Collision insurance usually runs between 2 1/2-4% of the stated value of the equipment. So a truck with a stated value of $20,000 would cost about $80/month or less, depending on the insurance carrier. If you lease to a carrier you will need to carrier bobtail or unladen liability. Some carrier's offer this from about $30-60/month. If you get your own authority you won't need bobtail.

Rates can vary widely on cargo and liability insurance. You will need both if you get your own authority. I would guess you will probably pay around $6-8M/year based upon others who have mentioned their rates on the forum. You have more experience than some who have gotten their authority. Most insurance companies require at lease 2 years of experience and a good MVR. If you are thinking about your own authority, you should check around for the best rates. You may check with B & H Insurance. I believe they are in Winston-Salem. Authority costs $300 if you do it yourself.

Tell us about the deal ya got....am curious, I am always looking to buy for less and get a good deal on things.
Semis are a tough buy, so much can go wrong, and more then once drivers here were probably thinking I was an, 'idiot' to buy at auction.

I got a quote from a insurance broker today. It was high (I only have 14 months on my license, but he claimed it wouldn't come down much until I had 3 years.

It was:

Liability $7500
Fire, theft for truck $4800
Cargo up to 100k $1300

Seems high to me, but so far this is the only one that would say they can do it. I was at Freightliner today, and they through Great American Insurance Group offer truck Physical damage policy but not cargo or liability.

By the way not to digress, but the salesman told me something that surprised me. He said that Swift, Prime, Covenant lease the trucks then turn them back in. I don't see why he would lie, but at first blush it's odd that these companies with a boat load of cash would lease. I've always heard they buy them at good prices. As a matter of fact the trucks he had came with warranties only if they were former company trucks as they were assured of the maintenance. O/O trade-ins did not come with warranties. It's kind of a double edge sword in a way, company drivers aren't going to take care of the equipment like an O/O but the companies are better equipped to take care of the trucks.

Covenant has someone in their corporate offices who sell their fleet trucks. They may have a deal where they sell the trucks. I have been a shop that details them prior to selling. I don't know about the others. These carrier will lease a truck to their drivers, so it is really the driver who is paying for the lease, at least in some cases.

Those fleet trucks have a guarenteed buyback from the manufacturer.

That is how Freightliner got into trouble several years ago. They sold a bunch of trucks to some of these big carriers like Covenant, US Xpress, etc., and agreed to purchase them back for a fixed amount of money. What they failed to see is what could happen in the marketplace. From what I recall the market dropped and they had to pay more to buy the trucks back than they were worth in the marketplace. To help themselves out of the situation they came up the their Select Trucks Program. Under Select they probably covered most of their losses, but got into such straights that they wound up selling out to Chrysler. Of course, they are all now part of Mercedes, at least for now. I think they have been sold recently to an investment group.