I can't imagine the shipper wouldn't require the broker to have insurance. Ultimately, the broker is liable because he has the contract with the shipper. His insurance or him may come after you down the road to collect to difference, but that's negotiable.

Every business has regulations, especially when there are those that want big Gov't. I know people in auto repair, nail salon, office supplies, etc and they all feel like to much regulation.

I bought a gas can a few months ago at Walmart and the nozzle had some screwy design to capture fumes. It was a major hassle just to pour gas from it. I too it off and just poured it old school. If some EPA guy came by he would have given me a hard time.

You think you guys got it bad. Try doing environmental work. When i pump a tank. They want to know the gallons, what was in it, if its getting pumped enough. etc etc. Plus all the DOT stuff on top of it.

Wow, we got an empty container stolen from our yard. Camaras were not in the right spot. I worked for a company as a driver and in 5 years, 12 vans loaded of Budweiser beer were stolen. The suspicion was inside job. Hopefully you know who is in your company. The Liberal stuff is true. If people (older) begin voting again, we wouldn't have these clowns in office! If people don't come out in 2014 and get rid of the traitors, this country is lost. The reason you are feeling conservative is because you have a business and the Authorities are trying everything to make it impossible for you to become wealthy in this country! Hope things work out for you.

The hits keep on coming. We had a truck rollover by a gust of wind today in Illinois. It was empty. I have had so much damage in the last few months it's beyond belief. I just hired a safety person and we are all working our tails off but it just doesn't seem to be enough. I mean we are not a one truck operation but mid 30's is not huge. I don't see why we keep having these problems. Unbelievably with all these massive damages, nobody has been hurt or (knock on wood) have we had a liability claim.

The guy that wrecked the truck in Atlanta, he filed for Workman's Comp, but that was basically fraud and we had everything documented and he's going to get screwed. By the way, we use the application that was originally used from the compliance department I outsourced to when I first got going. It is so thick I never even bothered to read through it all. But there were things he signed which he definitely didn't follow after the crash that does not make him look good. This is why I suggest outsourcing when you get started.

The day will come when we have to pay the piper, but unbelievably we are still a profitable company. I am meeting with a lawyer next week, as it seems that people see me as some target now, whether it's employees or outside people. I need to protect myself. This is gotten way bigger than I imagined. Yet I am in truth disappointed in the slow growth. I want to be up to 100 trucks as soon as possible. That's just my personality.

The new company is just about up. I have everything filed but the application is still pending. The cargo isn't listed on the FMCSA's website and I asked the agent about that and she said it's not required. Looking again it says it is not required. I don't see how companies can monitor if something happens if it's not there.

I'm looking forward to get into the intermodal business. It was weird, I send the main dispatcher/price analyst ( I hate titles, I even myself never sign owner or CEO or whatever I just put MGR.) to the monthly port meetings (I don't like those things) and he met the guy from FEC (the rail company) and I think they thought we were bigger than we are as he seemed to know who we were and said they were talking about us as they see our trucks all over Florida and wanted us as a customer. We are not prepared for that yet.

I'll say this, with the all the new insurance tightening and everything else I don't see how someone can get into this business now. Ryder has clamped down big time. I'm having trouble getting one stupid rental for the new company as they won't rent to new entries. Even though I am a good existing customer (my current company could get a rental) but they are looking at the new one as a new one. My rep has to speak to the head of credit because in truth the only reason I opened up the new company was changes in their current insurance policy which would prevent me from getting the UIIA endorsement (for drayage etc).

I need to hit the Powerball, well I guess we all do.

Be safe.

Hello all, Ive got a question for Merrick4.
If I am correct, from your posts it seems that you lease all your tractors. Did you find that the cost of repairs and maintanence of you own trucks was equal to the cost of full service leasing? Obviously it works for you. Im curious what does a full service lease cost per month per truck? How long does it last? What services does it include? Who pays for what insurance on the truck. Any other info you might think is relevent is appreciated also.
BTW, that is one interesting trucking story your living. Keep it up and Good Luck out there.

At this point I couldn't give you a good comparison. I've been leasing several years it seems anyway. I wouldn't be an accurate comparison either, as I was running used trucks before and now they are brand new. The days of the blown turbos are over. We just did have a transmission go but Ryder took care of it and gave us a sub which doesn't cost extra. So driver could still make money. As for the cost, each truck is a little different but I just pulled up the invoice (which was over $100,000) and I can give you an example. One truck cost $2419.70 fixed plus$268.91 for liability coverage and $172.05 for physical damage. Then the variable was $.0653 per mile for 8097 miles for a total of $3,389.39. This is for a 2014 Cascadia.

As for the terms of the lease, the can vary. If I remember you can get it for 3 years but they put those in the rental fleet. I like to get refrigerators in them for the drivers so I think the last one I did was for 54 months.

I am getting a quote this week on a new Cascadia Evolution. It's an automatic. We are running one now as a test and the driver was reluctant at first but he likes it a lot now.

Any other questions feel free to ask. Oh by the way, the driver who got knocked over by the wind is ok. He's been with me for a while. He's sore and I told him to go to the doctor, but he just to go home and rest a couple of weeks. He's bringing the trailer back and the truck is up there. It was actually a sub truck for his which broke down and they gave him another one to use to get back home. Another benefit of Ryder, we are never really stuck without a truck. He went to a hotel for a couple of days to rest and get his bearings back and we loaded him down today.

Hi all! I am new to the website and have just read most of the merrick4 story. HOW AWESOME..and good job, well done. I am the wife of a trucker and hear stories from him all the time about this driver or that driver. I got a sense of life on the road when my husband finished drivers school and signed on with his first company. The day he brought the company truck home was a nightmare. We stocked up on cleaning supplies and spent 2 days scrubbing out the interior of the truck. When that didn't work, I pulled out the stream cleaner and steamed the inside. Hubby was not lease/purchasing, at that time, just driving for a company. He, like you, takes pride in his job. Other drivers should pay attention! When hubby left that company to lease/purchase from another one, the drivers at the old company were fighting over who was going to get his clean truck. Dah! If someone threw up in their new Ford F150, they'd be cleaning out their drawers! It doesn't take a whole lot of time to sweep out a truck and wipe things down, stay organized.

Enough of that, I have a question for you.

Why do the "dispatchers" NOT monitor the weather? Example: With the recent cold weather/ice/snow in the southeast, were they not monitoring for their own purposes anyway? So why not help the drivers, since the dispatcher should know where the trucks are, and alert them to bad weather. Hubby was in TN this last week, waiting for a load to bring him home for the weekend. (He had to be home for a dental appointment this Monday) He received calls from the dispatcher over and over for loads that would not bring him home on time. Not once did the dispatcher tell him that the weather was going to be getting bad. (Hubby is now an O/O and is trying, unsuccessfully, to get the dispatchers/company to understand and accept that he wants to be home every other weekend.) In your company, is the company not liable for the safety of the driver?

As has been my experience with companies....

They have one thing and one thing only in mind....The bottom line on the Profit and Loss statement. Make it as big as possible. The driver is nothing but a tool just like the truck. Between that steering wheel and the nut holding it, there are a ton of regulations that must be complied with.

Unfortunately, unless it's involving EPA, OSHA or something like that, your husbands safety is the last thing of consideration to anybody but your husband and you. Weather is irrelevant to dispatchers. Their task is to ensure a load is on-time to the customer. Anything that disrupts that or makes it be rescheduled is a service failure and a hit to their own job performance.

And for the record, I am an independent O/O for a reason. It's amazing the look on a receiver or shippers face when they are told, "why don't you call my dispatcher and tell them the problem." and they suddenly realize that they are talking to you. Changes a lot of attitudes really quick.

Drivers in this industry are looked down upon as a second class citizen as if they are not capable of bringing themselves up. I see that attitude time and again. With dispatchers, brokers, receivers and shippers.

One thing your husband needs to realize is he is no longer a driver. He is a business owner. Plain and simple. It just so happens that about 25% of his duties involve driving. If he is not allowed to operate his business as he deems, then he needs to move or change his practices. If they are not letting him be home every other weekend, then he needs to change companies he's leased to. His truck, his rules. If he accepts what they say, then he has changed his business practices.

I mostly run my loads off of load boards, It keeps me busy enough that I don't have to be leased to a company. I have regular brokers I work with that keep me busy I am using the boards less and less. I am not making a million a week, but I am paying off debt and making progress. So that's good enough for me.

Ok this is an interesting topic. As for Roxie's question about the company being responsible for the safety of the driver. Well in part that is very true and in part very false. The true part, if the weather is bad it would be reckless to push a driver to drive in unsafe conditions or to make him run 1000 miles over night or stuff like that. We are also responsible for making sure he/she has good working legal and safe equipment to drive.

Where it is very false, well if a guy is on a legal load or sick or tired or anything else, and doesn't pull over well then the driver is responsible for his own safety. We always say CDL stands for Can deliver Late. Obviously we care about our on time delivery percentage, but we'd rather be late then have someone kill themselves or rollover the truck. Also if the truck is having problems and the driver doesn't report it, then his own personal safety is on him. Trust me, we fix everything, yet time and time again, well lets just say some of these guys have no sense. All they live for is the next paycheck without looking at the big picture. I guess in short we are responsible for what we have control of.

As for mndriver's comment that all we care about is the bottom line (and just to be clear I believe you are stating your position and not trying to be rude and neither am I), well I would tend to agree. So with that in mind, a wrecked truck or a dead driver, WILL affect the bottom line. So worrying about the safety of the driver absolutely does come into mind, maybe not for the right reasons but nonetheless it does.

As for driver's being treated like second class citizens. Look at the way a lot of them conduct themselves. I drove all over this country. Why oh why do people feel the need to throw pee bottles all over the place? Why is it that the true professional drivers would rather stop at a rest area instead of a truck stop?

Some of the guys make a lot of money but again they don't look at the big picture. They run and run and smash the truck and move on to the next company. But that's not just the trucking industry. My wife is a chief compliance officer for a broker/dealer (stocks, bonds etc) and she can't stand being responsible for these brokers. Because in the end all the brokers are worried about is making as much money as possible and if she doesn't catch if they do something wrong and Finra or the SEC comes in, the broker and her will be fined and marks on their licenses. The difference is a broker can just take their book of business and move on to the next company and be fine. But as a compliance officer, well they don't generate money, they are more like an insurance policy, so them having a mark on their record is much more damaging.

Finally I would like to comment about monitoring the weather. I admit we don't do that as good as we should but a lot of that is my fault. I am from Massachusetts. Hurricanes are a joke, snow storms are par for the course, we don't have tornados, earthquakes, tidal waves; nothing. So a lot of time I just don't take that stuff serious. Now look what we just had in Atlanta, one driver got mad at us, but I mean the mayor wasn't even prepared for how bad it was going to be. It took everyone by surprise, how were we supposed to know? But again I just have a tendency not to take that stuff serious due to my upbringing. My wife wants a house with a back yard and I don't want a back yard, for good lord there's crocodiles or alligators in the canals all over here. Not to mention snakes etc. In Mass, the worst thing we had was poison ivy which I got every year.

Good questions and comments. I am very open, feel free to ask anything.

There is a guy that used to be here on CAD that has a 2004 truck and spent 27,000 last year on maintenance and repairs. His truck is paid off. It makes a good argument if he's better off with a leased truck like Merrick and not worry about fixing things and just make the lease payment.

If he would learn to fix things himself he's save about 10,000 a year. That would change the debate of old vs new.

I've got a 2007 Century and a 2004 Great Dane 53' box with Carrier Ultima Reefer. In 2013, I spent $27,000 on maintenance combined. A set of drives, a pair of steers and a power divider, 4- air bags, CAC, ECM to Firewall wiring harness and pair of windshields were included in all of that. Some work I did myself, other stuff I had someone else do.

Ever priced out what it costs for a shop space? about $19.50 / SF. That comes to a nice little $43,000 for a 25'X85' shop. About as small as you want to consider for a single truck. Makes one wonder what's worth it...

Recently, I sat down and did a cost analysis to see if it would be worth it to trade in that old iron with 840,000 miles on it and buy something with less than 300,000 miles.

It's a wash. Even taking into account the extra maintenance I have on my truck and paying for a new engine. Where I suddenly get a better payback is the fact in Jan 2015, I can have my equipment paid for and in the next 36 months, put into savings $48,000.

New iron isn't always better.

One thing that I've always noticed that gets lost in the debate of new vs old etc is down time. There is a cost to down time. Really new ones break down too, with all this new technology. It seems to be getting better but nonetheless... Actually, they gave us a Cascadia Evolution as I mentioned to run for now and it broke down on it's first trip. However, here's the thing with leasing, they give you another truck and you keep going.

Now I know your truck is like your house, it's no picnic moving stuff. But it's no picnic sitting in hotels either. Also when you are on a time sensitive load like produce or other perishables, you can't be sitting around waiting for the truck to get fixed. You could lose a load like that.

And down time is not something that I believe can be quantified, by me anyway.

now you are getting into business models and organizational methodology.

As drivers, we don't care. You look at the boss and he tells you what to do. As motor carrier business owner, it's a whole new ball game.

This was probably one of THE biggest hurdles I had to jump to make that move from leased operator to having my own authority. I have no support anymore. No second fleet truck or anything to back me up, repower a load or anything. Just what I can swing.

A fleet has an option to put the driver up in a motel and then repower the load as well. Or you can rent a truck or if leased, swap power units and re-power that way.

As NEW operator, you have to wait 2-3 years before some companies (Ryder or penske) will lease you a truck even short term to cover you on a situation of a major break down. If you've been in business long enough, this becomes a more likely and possible option.

Down time becomes then, how well and how fast you can respond and react to that mechanical failure. New iron or old can and will leave you stranded.

What I HAVE noticed. The trucks that seem to be having the BIGGEST issues with emissions which is what's shutting this stuff down is the ones that idle their trucks all the time. The guys with the APU's, don't have near the issues.

As to doing your own work vs a shop. It really comes to the level of difficulty. I just had an idler pulley seize on my Series 60. It's $120 for the part. I needed two. The fan hub idler is the one that seized and I figured I would replace both while I had it down. Since the belt was destroyed, figured I'd replace that at the same time. So I got both of them. Parts alone were like $275. Likely it would have been another $125-150 in labor had I taken it to a shop. It took me all of about 25 minutes to replace both idlers and belts in my backyard. Even in sub-zero temps.

When that Idler failed, I had one of two options. A service call or cut the belt and drive home. WHAT? drive home with no fan belt? Yeah, It's 60 miles, -10*F and an empty trailer on flat ground. What's the issue?

This is where I have issues with companies and company drivers. Some would flip if a driver just DID that. Others would just call the company and send a service truck out costing $750+ to replace that idler which took nothing but a breaker bar and a 3/4" wrench. Which way is right? Both of them are. At least in my view. What's the caliber of driver that you hired?

I have added one thing when I went looking at a 2012 T660 just this month.....

I pay my equipment off in Jan 2015. That means I can now start putting that payment I would have made, about $2000 into a savings account. In Merricks case, that's $2419 per month.

Just using $2000 monthly put into a savings account that grows with 1.5% interest APR and 36 months, that's a touch over $73,000. Take $20,000 off that to pay for an engine/trans/clutch on an 840K mile truck, it still leaves me with $53,000 in a savings account. Do that with his 35ish trucks, that's $1,855,000. (35 X $53,000). With Merricks payments that $89,000 or $2,415,000 (35 X $69,000, take off $20,000 for an in-frame). Not exactly chump change now is it...
Simple savings calculator -- Bankrate.com


My ECM DDEC print out showed 5.83 mpg when I bought the truck. My IFTA history is 6.2 MPG. A 2012 T660 shows a history of 7.2 MPG (Range of 7.0 to 7.4) in the ECM's for the Kiem T660 studio's that are currently showing up on used truck lots. With the reliability issues that the EPA10 engines are showing, I don't know if it will be any more reliable than my truck.

Even if I continue to plan for $19,000 annual maintenance on an '07 Century vs $15,000 for a '12 T660. It's within $1500-2000 annually for the newer truck in savings. That's taking into account reduced cost for fuel for better economy and increased fixed expense for lease/loan payment. Basically breaking even.

I'll add this in a new post....

I went back and looked at my "maint" escrow". I budget for $0.138 per mile. When I take out for EGR, Major, Trans and 2 rear ends, I can drop that down to $0.066 per mile just for tires, brakes and oil changes.

Pretty much what Merrick is paying for his lease equipment.

Last year, my total maint was about $26,000. Including about $3000 for reefer/trailer stuff.

Tires were like $6000 last year for steers (goodyear 399LHS), drives (Firestone FD695+) and a set of decent used tires (virgin Bridgestone 720's with 12/32) now on the trailer.

Power divider was $3,000 just for that and I had another $1000 of needed maint done at the some time. Including an LOF, DOT Annual truck & trailer etc

CAC was $850

ECM harness was $700.

Air bags were $800.

Espar Bunk heater, $800

You can see it chews up that 13.8 CPM really quick and I only drove 74,000 miles last year. So that should have only put about $10,500 into my maint account.


Having said all that....

I don't see spending NEAR that amount this year so the Maint account should be able to recover a bit. The joys of buying someones old iron. Especially fleet equipment.


As a Comparison, my fuel account last year showed I spent ~$53,000 on fuel for both the reefer and the truck.

Big difference between an O/O and a fleet. Drivers, in general, don't take care of company equipment. They don't maintain the little things and they don't know anything is wrong until it breaks. Maintenance costs and downtime for an O/O should be significantly lower than for a fleet on an adjusted basis. For a fleet, the downtime and service failures associated with breakdowns cost far more than the actual repair/maintenance costs. So, they often don't mind paying a little more upfront in order to control the uncertainties down the road. That model would never pencil out for an O/O because his repair/maintenance costs are the bigger concern AND much easier to control than they are for fleets. Not that it matters much because, as mentioned earlier, most O/O's couldn't qualify for a full-service lease anyway.

From what I see, it is very hard to get in with Penske/Ryder now. I was talking to my rep the other day, I got in when people where going out of business left and right. They had so many trucks parked against the fence it wasn't funny. As I mentioned, I just opened up another company and they at first denied me a rental. We had to take it to the head of credit and they approved me but on the condition that my existing company guarantee payment.

I'm impressed mndriver with your breakdown of costs. I never do stuff like that. My mind just doesn't operate that way. I have never balanced a checkbook or set myself up a budget. I have an overall feel of things and go from there. A few years ago, my books were a complete mess. I knew I wasn't losing money (of that I keep track of) and thankfully my wife and her sister put the books back together. I do the major cost cutting things for example I have fuel discounts, I save thousands on sales tax, I get tires at steep discounts. I worry about the big stuff. I have people that worry about the small stuff and besides I just keep going that things are always changing. I can say besides the trailers, I have no loans, don't factor, and have no credit card debt. I am now going to add a couple of more trucks and might order another 5 trailers.

I am hiring more people and now will be pushing the intermodal. We, today, are getting signed up with the UIIA. Then this week we have a meeting with FEC (Florida East Coast Rail) so I'm excited about that.

Here's the quote I just got for two more trucks. They are automatic. From the feedback I got from the driver in one now, it anticipates if the road is going to elevate and adjusts the speed accordingly. You can leave it on cruise control on hills etc, it just automatically adjusts. Anyway here is the quote: (I copied this from the email from my rep)

Here is your quote for the Freightliner Cascadia Evolution:

1) Your most recent tractors priced out at: $2,928.18 per month (includes insurance)

2) The New Cascadia Evolution with Direct Drive Automated transmission prices out at: $3,122.47 per month

3) Difference of $194.29 per month.



Now if we use 6.5 mpg as a baseline and use the 5% fuel savings (Freightliner is saying 5%-7%) on a fleet that is averaging roughly 130,000 miles it would look something like this......



130,000 miles per year / 6.5 mpg = 20,000 gallons x $3.80 per gallon = $76,000 in fuel per year

130,000 miles per year / 6.825 mph = 19,048 gallons x $3.80 per gallon = $72,382 in fuel per year

Difference is $3,618 per year / 12 months = $301 savings per month



This would mean that you would spend $106.71 less per month with these Cascadia Evolutions. If the price of fuel goes up or you do more miles than the savings would be even greater.

What is the difference in tags for irp and insurance?

the insurance was included, also the IRP. Sometimes if the tags come out a little bit more I have to pay the difference but it's not much.

I am seeing that difference between my century and a new '12 T660. The numbers are basically break even so now it's almost an emotional decision.

Century with a series 60 or 660 studio with paccar MX engine.

You'll like the evolution's with auto's. Beating the 12's & 13's mpg even with cold weather and additives. Depending on the driver you need to tweak the trans settings to get the most from them.(if they allow it) Had to order 4 more today because they are already out of the D12 for end of year trucks.

Just to clarify...He is a business owner and started "running his business" while he was still under lease/purchase. He looked at it this way....as long as he was making the payments, the truck was his.

I understand where you are coming from with the bottom line aspect. However, the last company he worked for hired him to "drive the southern route from the upper mid-west (MN) and back. Once he signed on the dotted line that "southern route" thing flew out the window. He ran from MN to the east coast and back. Big pay going into PA, NJ, MD, NY but usually less than half the pay coming out. Plus maintenance, wear and tear on the truck, fuel costs pulling mountains, etc. He put his foot down about a year and a half into the lease. The one BIG advantage he had was that momma works too and he could have paid off the truck at that point and walked away. What he did do was speak to the owner of the company and carried the proof with him that he was making just as much "round trip" coming south as he was going east.

I think he will have to put the foot down again with this new company. He talks about going out on his own using the load boards but wants me to retire and "dispatch".

P.S. He is an O/O. The truck was paid off for Christmas!!!

I am going to go back and pull this forward a little bit....


I was talking to my insurance rep a couple weeks back...We were discussing expanding and what it required and the little idiosyncrasies about it all.

One thing I have concerns about is claims. Don't want any, but it's not a matter of if, but WHEN it's going to happen. I have to have the money to cover the deductible and from there, insurance covers it.

I asked directly, "How many cargo claims is too many?" answer, "Depends on the company."

He went on (and now I am paraphrasing):

overall in the market, most insurance companies will let a ratio of 1 claim per 4 trucks slide by per year. So if you have 35 trucks, that would be 8 claims per year. I wanted to get to 8-10 trucks and he said I wouldn't have much issues for 1-2 claims annually.

BUT...there's always that but ain't there....

If you start showing a history and pattern, they will raise your rates etc or drop you and report your credit history that way.

So it's still to our benefit as carriers to do our due diligence to minimize rates.

I still consider myself relatively new to being an O/O. I got my truck in July 12, authority in July 13. Been some interesting business lessons since then too.

Well first let me say glad Chris1 you are having positive experiences with the Evolutions. I don't like the technical aspects of these things. I actually don't even like trucks. I wouldn't even drive a pickup truck. I know specs are important, that's why before I did the Ryder thing, I was buying trucks from Covenant. I figure they paid someone good enough to spec the trucks and why reinvent the wheel? I just bought their trucks. I do read a lot and it's not like I don't pay attention, I just don't like it. I'm looking into getting those plastic curtains for the back of the reefers for when the door is open.

What ever happened to the O/O from Canada, I think his name was Alan? That guy knew a lot about the mechanics.

As for the claims, well I had an agent tell me something different and actually I ended up speaking to an underwriter who confirmed it. Basically (I can't remember the exact number) I think it was 65%. That is claims can't eat up more than 65% of the premiums. It really wouldn't make sense on the number of trucks as you could have a full load at $100,000 or 3 loads at $7,000 each.

Yesterday a truck collided with a train in Pompano. That was a mess and will be costly.

We went down and met the guy from the rail. That was interesting. We watched how they place the trailers on the train. From South Florida to Jacksonville is only $100 a trailer with 9 hour transit time. They want to buy reefers but the guy that met us is trying to persuade them against it and they want to partner up with us. It's just that perishable stuff scares me. We get alerts if the reefer goes down but what are we going to do when it's on a train?

To be honest, I think they want us to try it out and see how it goes and then do it themselves. He did say we could charge the customer whatever we want, they just want the trailers on their rail. They also have a train that goes to Atlanta but we didn't get that price. To be honest the whole thing was a bit overwhelming. We picked up a big shipper down here and they do mostly melons and I think we are charging $1000 to Jacksonville. Imagine if we could get it on a train? $$$$ The shipper is only about 2 miles from us too and then we only have to take about 15 miles to the train.

I set up the new company and have my MC # current and active with all the insurance. I'm all set to go. We signed up with the UIIA which basically all people have to do if they want to do intermodal. I just need to wait a little now though. One girl is on vacation, the safety/driver manager is going on vacation next week. I want to fire another girl there and I'm probably going to get my other hip operated on now. I want to get it over with. Though this time it should be easier as I know what to expect and I'm training to strengthen everything now. (I just got home now after a couple hours riding around on my bike, it's 81 out today).

By the way I heard in the old days guys use to get insurance for one truck and then run a bunch under that MC number. Well I was talking to this guy I know today who is very very smart but just does things the wrong way in life. I guess what he and some people down in Miami are doing is they get they put the truck on the insurance and then cancel it after they get the plate.

They don't pay taxes, insurance, etc. I don't know, maybe when I was 20, but adults have no business with stuff like that. Again this happens to be one of the smartest (book smart) people I know, yet he is doing stuff like that. But you guys with one or two trucks (and dont' take that wrong, I'm no big company ) anyway it's hard to compete with people blatantly violating the laws.

Well be safe everyone.

If these people cancel their insurance after getting their plate, the insurance company will notify the feds and their authority will be cancelled. They would likely be stopped when they cross a scale or stopped by the dot. I don't understand how they could be able to conduct their business without having active insurance and authority. I never felt the need to compete with people such as you mentioned. They cannot last long. They are also the type who would think nothing of steeling the load and selling it. I have heard of some who will get the information on a legitimate carrier and essentially assume their identity. They take the money and run. Some hijack the load and then the shipper or broker starts looking for the real carrier. I read somewhere that this is much more common with Russians on the left coast.

If I understood him right GMAN, they leave one or two trucks on their insurance. He was telling me of some other guy I met once (I didn't like him either, I could tell he was shifty) that he has all the same make and model trucks and puts the registration for the one on the policy in all the trucks as they usually don't usually check VIN or plates.

It's frustrating as we are all trying to do the right thing. I mean let's not kid ourselves, sometimes crime does pay and I never believed in that "what goes around, comes around". But it doesn't matter in the end; I have my morals I have always lived by so no matter how lucrative I wouldn't do something like that.

That makes sense for them to maintain insurance on one or two trucks in order to keep their insurance and authority active. Insurance companies do check your pcs150 for the number of units you own or have leased to your authority. I don't think you ever get ahead by cheating or lying. You might see a short term advantage, but in the long term, I think that honesty and ethics do matter.

Couple of years ago I had a carrier based in CA back into one of my O/O's in MO. Their insurance was only good for a 500 mile radius and they only had one truck on it. So they had no insurance on the truck that hit my O/O. As far as FMCSA was concerned they were fine because their insurance company filed the mcs90 with them and their only concern is that it is filed not the limitations of it.

It is irritating to think that we pay for all those who skirt the rules. From what I have observed, it is primarily those who's home is not the U.S. that tend to do this. I know insurance is expensive, but it hurts all of us when there are those who don't play by the same rules. It is my understanding that the insurance company may still be on the hook if the carrier has a claim, whether the individual vehicle is listed on the policy or not. They then may go back on the carrier to collect for any losses.

I only have a 100 mile radius on my insurance. But up to 3 times a year i am allowed to go beyond 100 miles.

I am trying to spec out a couple of new trucks. As it's been a few years now since I'm off the road and I stay of I95 and usually take the Turnpike in my car and basically everything is close to me anyway, I don't see much trucks.

Anyway, are the big companies still pushing for Tripac use? I have been using the Parksmart (Caacadia) technology but it's not the greatest. I'm thinking of ordering Tripacs. They are $70 more a month, but I think more reliable. What are you guys seeing out there?

Thanks

I would not order a truck without a Tripac. I seriously believe that the biggest issue you will have with your emissions is caused by the excessive idle time drivers put on them. Is it possibly a maintenance issue? yeah, but it's easier to shut down a tripac and run for a short time till you can get it into a shop than loosing time for the big engine failing emissions issues.

I see a $50+ bill go out the window every night I idle my truck. Well worth just getting a motel if I have to.

could not agree more. the only time i idle is when its under -2*. and thats not because i'm worried about the truck starting. my truck has 0 insulation from the factory so it gets a bit chilly. i've had it -8 the truck sitting for 8 hours with wind. the truck fired up like it was summer time.

Thank you both for the input. Are you guys familiar with the new ParkSmart HVAC system that come in the Cascadias?

Thank you

not familiar with ParkSmart at all.

I am very leary about anything based on batteries though.

I just like that pony motor

Had very little problem with the parksmart. Far cry from the nite system. It heats the engine coolant for heat not just blowing hot air from the unit. Park it for three days in minus 0 and its still running and the truck fires right up. The AC works fairly well,you can get 10+hours out of it(if the trucks ordered with an insulation package) No good for sitting days at a time. Most of mine are wired back from the reefer so as long as you're loaded the reefer will supply about 60% of the power used.

heres my thought on the battery systems. they got pro's and cons.

my dad has a nite system in his pete. right now the batteries are stone dead. his friend that has a truck from the fleet he got his from swears by it.

heres my gripe with the battery kits:

just like anything else with a battery they have to be replaced.. though merick.. you lease.
if your drivers do a reset.. they will have to idle to recharge the batteries.
if they need to wait 12+ hours.. they need to idle.
if you have a fridge whats keeping the truck battries charged?

again i will never own a truck that dont have a tripack. my biggest gripe with it is the +-5* thing but i'm having that changed soon. and ontop of that some states give you a 400lb (i hear some are 450?) allowance for the weight.

Some additional comments:

The newer tripac evolution has a bigger oil pan and different housing. The control panel has been dummied down to knobs only. The old style, I can go in AND change settings where as with the new style, you need a couple hundred in software and cable to go in and work on it. Done at the request of big fleets.

The espar D2 heater that comes with the tripac is rated at like 7800 btu output. Unless you have a smaller cab or really good insulation, it will be lacking on a condo or truck with poor insulation in the bitter cold temps. Running at optimum performance, my espar has worked fairly well to -5°f. The D4 heater is a direct replacement and twice the heating btu's, but there's issues with that too.

If you short cycle or idle these things down because it's too warm and the really cut back the output, you can carbon up the flame tube. Run poor quality fuel or too much biodiesel, same thing. To replace the firetube is a $300+ job. I just had mine done last week. The heater itself was replace in Jan 13 because the fan module died and it was a wash to replace the module or the whole unit. A carboned flame tube just means it was over fueled or had raw fuel not burnt and basically flooded when I looked at it.

With the D4 heater, it will cut itself back a lot more than the D2 will. I seriously was considering replacing my D2 with it till I understood the issues. I think the $400+ spent on the bigger heater would be better spent adding better insulation. It will provide better sound control too.

Considering the fussiness of the esbar heater, I might consider an 110v ac space heater. We use one in the car to warm the inside and the windows so we don't have to scrape in the morning. It keeps the inside to about 60° for us. Will have to toy with it and see what the power requirements are. But $900 heater replacements put a lot of money towards something like this. And that pony engine will keep any batteries charged.

The yanmar engine in the tripac is about as reliable as a Kubota diesel like in the carrier and some thermoking reefers. 15,000+ hours should be the norm. I'd even consider 20k+ normal if taken care of. I've put 2000 hours on mine since July 12. Running ac and heat. This winter, it was either the tripac and the arctic kit to keel the engine warm at bitter subzero temps or plug in the block heater. I used the tripac mostly. Even to -20°f temps. It just started every time.

Remember what I said about charging, with a battery based system that needs to recharge in that 10 hour driving window, plan on upgrading you alternator at least 30 amps. There's some T660's in Michigan that have a battery based system in them. That is part of that system.

Weight wise, you either add 400 lbs of engine or 400 lbs of batteries. Plan on replacing those $500 worth of batteries every 18-24 months. Compare that to about $150 worth of oil changes annually on a tripac or similar.

Again thanks for all the detailed responses. I used a Tripac and the Carrier one (that was terrible), but I've been asking the drivers and the all to a fault prefer the Parksmart.

Most complaints about battery system are the base truck.(and the old nite systems) Fleet ordered trucks, little or no insulation. I seldom have to replace the battery's in the three years I own the truck. Tripac will burn more fuel than battery's cost. But the parksmart won't run the AC for days. Heater will run for days before battery's go down. Costwise I've came out far better with the parksmart than I did with the APU's. But my trucks do run an out and back dedicated so they don't sit waiting for loads.