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| Did just what you are thinking of for 5 years with 3 trucks. Either buy a brand new truck or make sure you have $30k ready at a moments notice for repairs. A radiator hose can be a $300 repair when away from home. Those 30k to 60k trucks are a time bomb. A lot of profit goes away the first time the driver has a trailer brake stick and rub a couple tires off, dot fines, can't get loaded today, can't get unloaded today, you're to early, you're to late, when are you coming?, $6,000 a month in fuel bills that are due in 30 days with customers who pay in 90 days. Figure mpg at 5, salesman says 6mpg, buddy says his gets 6, figure 5, in a 10,000 mile month that's $1300 difference. If your like me you probably already decided your going to do this. Best thing I ever did was buy a '98 Volvo day cab for $7000 to haul grain with. I used to think a truck should look cool, now I giggle every time I see a set of exhaust pipes that cost more than my truck.
My favorite Trucking Story:
Bill and Bob decided to go into the watermelon hauling business. They were able to buy the melons on the west end of town for $12 a dozen, and then just by hauling them to the East end of town they sold them for $1 a piece. After a couple weeks Bill said "Bob, I'm not sure we're making much money at this." Bob replied "I think we need a bigger truck."
Oh, I forgot one big thing, remember your own stuff you were going to haul in the first place? You now get to hire somebody to haul it because your truck has to keep customers happy. | |
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Does anyone use there farm semi to haul over the road during the off season?
