New or Used

[Bohemian]

My wife and I are trying to determine whether or not a used truck can be profitable to drive leased to Landstar.
My wife believes that a older truck with 500,000 miles will be unprofitable because it'll be in the shop too much. She says all the big companies get rid of trucks with 500,000+ miles and they know what they're doing.
I believe that while the older trucks may not be profitable for the big companies, they are still a viable alternative for the independent O/O. Major companies, I understand, only profit 1-3 cpm. They also have expenses a O/O does not have such as driver pay, maintaining terminals, and trailer fleets.
Yes, I realize an older truck will be in the shop more and my mechanical skills are minimal, I can change lights, but pretty much anything else would be shop work. I need to know is at what point will the extra maintenance costs out weigh the savings of buying a used truck?
Is it smarter to buy used for our first truck or buy new if we can swing it? Which price points should I try to meet or beat for 300,000 miles, 400,000 miles, 500,000 miles, 600,000 miles, etc.? How many O/O who drive older trucks do any of their repairs or even oil changes?

 

[mndriver]

Need to have a very good understanding of component life cycle and when things need to be replaced.

I've been running a 2007 century I bought with 708,000 miles. I've spent north of $25,000 in major repairs and routine maintenance. Tranny / clutch replacement, kingpins, power divider etc.

Truck payment and maintenance bills each month have equaled or been less than what a newer truck would be.


Keep this in mind.

A smaller truck payment will lower your monthly fixed payments.

So if things get slower, it'll be easier to make a $1000 payment than a $2200 payment.

Fleets dump trucks at 300-500,000 because the life span of most parts are nearing the end.

Brakes, drums, coolant, hoses, etc. All the regular routine maintenance components that just need replacing that most ignore.

 

[Bohemian]

Ty for your reply mndriver. How much did you pay for the truck and what time frame was that $25k+ spent in? Was most of it due to break downs or did you replace any components before they failed? Was it all shop work or do you do any of the work yourself? And how much down time have you had?

 

[mndriver]

I bought the truck in July 2012.

Most of the repairs have been done on my schedule and choice of time. The one "breakdown" I've had on the road has been the exhaust pipe off the turbo. This was the result of a bad repair to the exhaust manifold.

The major work was done in a shop. Items that partly caught me by surprise but got at home:

power divider (as I pulled into the house. I got the truck home in July and the mechanic who did my state inspection had found a loose input pinion on the power divider. We figured we'd run it till it failed. It went a full year.

Frame crack. (Found on a bi annual inspection). Kingpins. I had three mechanics look at it. No one caught them.

Clutch. I figured in Jan 2014 I needed to do a clutch job. It lasted until October 2014. Found a part of the throwout bearing inside the Bell housing. Rebuilt the tranny, clutch, rear structure and a bunch of other things. Slack adjusters, suspension bushings, alignment, shocks. Turbo.

 

[JunkYardDog5958]

@mndriver yoi bought a 2007 model in 2007 with 708k miles? Typo here?

 

[JunkYardDog5958]

@Bohemian why not get own authority instead of Landstar?

 

[mndriver]

Corrected.


It was originally a pride Transport truck. Then bought by cross creek produce. In 2011, cross creek went bankrupt and the truck was sold at auction. I bought it from Pacific truck in Ridgefield wa.

If he wants a former fleet truck, I'd suggest he talk to Bart at Freightliner salt lake city. He wants to get an old pride Transport truck. Just how the trucks are spec'd that I have been learning about.

 

[JunkYardDog5958]

My truck I had was 04 Century. Bought at 515k miles sold at 915k miles (sold bc was medically out of service). Replaced turbo, IC and 2 waste gates. Typical brakes and tires but was good truck with minimal expense. 1 clutch also at 875k

 

[JunkYardDog5958]

@Bohemian Requests maintenance records and look over thoroughly. You can get older trucks and make money on. Like @mndriver said you may spend money on but if add up new truck payments and possibly money behind with big payments. No matter what you buy it could break. If it has tits tires it'll give you trouble sometimes regardless. Yes ladies guys have man tits too so could go both ways lol.

 

[Blood]

Schneider is selling 7-8 year old glider trucks with 600k+ for $70k.
MHC Kenworth is selling 4 year old Internationals with around 300k for about $30k.
What does that tell you?
A glider in case you didn't know is a new truck spec'd with older rebuilt components so you avoid all the EPA B/S.

Anything newer than 2003 is a POS and you can spend the price of an overhaul chasing issues that will never be resolved.

A new truck is a sucker bet.
$140k or more for a potential nightmare.
Buy 2003 or older for $20k or less and if you end up spending another $50k you've still got a MUCH better deal.

Best bet is to find an older O/O who is retiring.
I passed on a 2000 Classic a few years ago that a buddy called me about.
You could just look at it and see that it had been meticulously cared for...
$20K
I'm still po'd at myself.