Buying Truck... Flat Bedders Advise

Btw, plz excuse the poor spelling on my initial post. Talk to type doesn't always work so well.

Oh come on........toughen up buttercup. You want to be a big, bad owner operator but you can't even handle a little honest, helpful, and accurate business advice without whining? Old School ran a business for 30 years and he owned his own small fleet of trucks with that business. The man knows what he's talking about. He's telling you like it is. You should be thankful. But of course being thankful or tough isn't really what people shoot for nowadays. Today it's more like give me what I want and tell me what I want to hear or my feelings will be hurt so I'll call you names and tell my mom on you. Kinda like your doing right now.

You told your mom already, didn't you?

Now that is condescending. Now you know the difference.

You think you know enough to run your own trucking business but you don't even know what you should pay for a truck? You act like you have it all figured out, yet you don't even know the most basic first step, and you're going to ignore fantastic advice from experienced professionals. Yet you think we're being irresponsible for trying to help you out? It sounds like you don't even know what that word means, do you? You're the one being irresponsible. Now you know the difference.

Wow, we've really covered a lot of territory here today. You've gotten fantastic business advice and we even helped you understand the real meaning behind a few big words here today. Good stuff.

Michael,

I can see from your pictures that there is something seriously wrong with that truck.

It doesn't have an established company name on the door.

I don't think Michael will be returning. Probably got his feelings hurt. Shame on you Brett! You should be sent to Sensitivity Training to remedy your Toxic Masculinity!

For future responders please do not try to convince me that going into business for myself is about idea. I did not ask whether or not I should go into business for myself. My question was do you think the truck I'm looking at is worth the money. To counsel someone not to start a trucking business as an owner op without knowing the details of their situation is irresponsible, arrogant, and condescending.

We could probably be a LITTLE NICER - and just respond:

TT is dedicated to helping people interested in trucking, and new drivers - get honest information about the trucking industry. We are not in a position to give advise on owning a truck, purchasing a truck - or anything other than getting a job in the industry and being successful as a company driver.

For the record Michael - you've been on the site long enough to know that, so you shouldn't be too surprised at the responses you get here.

Also - for the record - I have a number of friends that are O/O - both local/regional here in SoFla and OTR. "Success" is a matter of perspective. The amount of additional risk and responsibility, doesn't justify the the difference in annual net between them and a company driver. And I have another friend who does "oversize escort" that went in on a truck with someone, and thought he could make $$ putting a driver in it. He's had to go out and retrieve the truck 3 times in the last year (he's an idiot though, to his lack of credit - LOL).

$15-30K more net annually may seem like a really good thing, until you have to dump $10K into a tranny or inframe rebuild unexpectedly.

I've run a number of "reasonably successful" businesses through the years. I'm a risk taker and enjoy a challenge. But I wouldn't do it myself.

But seriously guys - instead of trying to talk someone out of it, or debating, giving someone a hard time - we should just politely tell that that is not what we do HERE, and point them to truckersreport or elsewhere.

Rick

But seriously guys - instead of trying to talk someone out of it, or debating, giving someone a hard time - we should just politely tell that that is not what we do HERE, and point them to truckersreport or elsewhere.

Rick

Hey, Rick, I did in the very first response to the OP.

I wouldn't pay that much for it. Unless there's some equipment you aren't mentioning here, that truck should be 60ish k. 2016 cascadias are a really good year for them though, but I'm not sure it's worth that price.

I know I am new here. But I believe what people on this site are telling you. Take the advice of the ones with exp. I have none myself, but even I see that the truck you were looking at is overpriced for the year, miles and sheer amount of trucks out there right now.

Above and beyond everything else is the truck itself. By the time you figure in interest, the total payoff on that truck is pushing 100k. Current trade in value on that truck is roughly 55k. Once that truck goes out of warranty in a year, it drops to around 35k and then you'll have to deal with all the problematic crap attributed with modern emissions systems. Today's trucks are disposable, not like they used to be where a million miles on a motor before an inframe were common as long as normal maintenance schedules were adhered to. You also have to add in that many drivers used to work in their own trucks when needed and now you have some folks who can't change a light bulb. Toss in the fact that the market is absolute garbage right now and you're making a mistake that you'll likely not recover from.