Originally Posted by GMAN (Post 484883)

Bob, OOIDA has a national tire program that they offer through Fleetone. Since I don't care for Fleetone I would not recommend them. Flying J did have a national tire discount program they offered through their PDCA card. With the recent merger with Pilot I don't know the current status of that program.

If you do business with some brokers, they can give you a Comdata card which could offer some tire discounts. The catch is that if you use a particular brokers card you cannot load it yourself. They must do it for you as you haul their loads.

I could give you the name of a tire distributor that I buy tires from if you wish. Just pm me and I will get it to you if you are interested.

You can get your own fuel card if you run your own authority. As a small operator you won't likely be able to get many discounts unless you go through one of the large brokers who have their own card. Landstar has a card that they offer to approved carriers as well as BCO's who are leased to them. You are supposed to be able to get discounts on tires, parts and fuel. Other major brokers offer similar programs.

I find that I can do better on my own than with some of these organizations. With so many members OOIDA should be able to negotiate better discounts.

I like TCH for a fuel card. Although the discounts are few, I like the way fuel data can be printed and tracked. Of course, most of the fuel cards have similar features. EFS, TCH, Comdata, TCheck are all major fuel cards. I would check with all of them to see who has the best deal for you. In fact, if you plan on going to the Dallas Truck Show at the end of this month, some of them should have booths and people with whom you can talk. Most have a set up fee, but often those are reduced or waived at these shows.

As I stated, I have a tire distributor whom I do business with locally, but I always keep a spare. Truck stops will rape you on tire replacement charges. I checked with a TA this morning for a price on caps for my truck. They quoted me $270. I can buy new tires for a little less than that figure. I can also buy caps locally for $170 or less at home. I suggest that you check around close to you.

One unfortunate aspect of running your authority when you only have a truck or two is that you can't often get deep discounts on fuel or tires. I have a friend who is leased to a carrier and is getting fuel discounts as high as $0.50/gallon using his company assigned Comdata card.

Originally Posted by RostyC (Post 481861)

I see they have a loadboard as well. Have you tried it yet?
How about the best broker program? Any experience there?

Originally Posted by Musicman (Post 486240)

Having had a few weeks to play with the NASTC load board, I can say that I'm extremely disappointed. Compared to TransCore's DAT load board and Getloaded.com, they have a very tiny amount of loads posted. I plan on non-renewing once my free trial expires in a week or so.

Originally Posted by henboy1 (Post 486242)

Musicman, I am glad you brought up this this topic.I guess you will not be renewing your NASTC membership of $250/year.
On the average how much fuel were you saving using their card?.I am trying to compare that to LS' fuel card that we use.We usually get 5-10 cents off the pump price and I was wondering wether to go with NASTC fuel card.Let's say I run a route from atlanta to CA, can I average a savings of 20cpg at the pump through that route?If so, then 20cpgX400gallons/week=$80/weekX45/weeks in a year=$3600/year savings in using their cards.I wouldn't mind paying $250/membership only to be paid back $3600 in a year.

Originally Posted by henboy1 (Post 486246)

From the spread, I will assume the "max price" is the cash price and the "net state of tax" is the price I pay for on their card.When you get their fuel report, will it tell me which "truck #" fueled at which truckstop, state and amount of gallons just like my fleetone card?I just don't want to chase drivers trying to find out how many gallons they purchased and in which state they fueled for my IFTA.I have my fleetone set up for them to deduct the amount at the end of the week, can I set up a 2 week deduction with these folks?Thanks for all your info Musicman.
I left OOIDAs drug consortium and we are in a better place now with Heblin Health out of WI.Only $45/yr (up to 2 drievsr)for the random and $40 for pre employment.

Originally Posted by Musicman (Post 486252)

The "max price" is what you will ultimately be billed for, though the fuel receipt will show the retail price. There is also a "cents off" column that is the guaranteed minimum discount you'd get if for some strange reason you showed up at the pump and the pump price was less than the posted discount price. I guess this could happen (though I’ve not seen it yet) over the weekend where the discounted price is static for three days. If the retailer dropped the pump price continually over those three days, the pump price might be less than your discount price by Monday night. If that were to happen, you'd still get the small discount off pump price shown there.

This IS Fleet One... only difference is you will be invoiced for the discounted price... everything else will look the same to you as it always has.

Originally Posted by henboy1 (Post 486253)

I wasted my time with OOIDA's Fleet One card with only 2 cents off at participating locations.I had to go through credit check and all the BS, only to get 2 cents off the cash price at some location. I am sold on this and I will be applying.Thanks!

Originally Posted by xcarsalesman (Post 486260)

i talked to a rep about joining NASTC, i was told you have to attend there class. Thats if you have your own authority, I just dont have the time to get there. So, i passed for now! Seems like a good outfit to join though