DannyD
Veteran Expediter
Wow, I've def. made a few bad financial decions recently. Mainly involving my purchase of a Sprinter. For those of you who are driving a Sprinter w/ success, my hat's off to you & I wish you continued prosperity. For me though, w/ my situation, I made a bad choice in vehicles. At least financially I did.
I blame no one. I'm not mad at anyone or any company. This one is all on me. There comes a time though, when you have to cut your losses.
In a nutshell, what it came down to was I'm working 2 weeks a month to pay for a vehicle that I don't really care for. That leaves 2 working weeks a month for all other bills. If things are slow, like they are now, then it might even be 3 weeks of work to pay for a vehicle. The thing for me became a financial noose.
With my Ford, because the payment/insurance is so much lower, 2-3 days per month is all I'll need to work & then I'll start putting what I make towards my house, food, etc. The gas milage isn't nearly as good, but even then, the gas you need at 16MPG to make $400 (Ford payment/insurance)is less than the amount you'd need at 22MGP to make $1200 (Sprinter). By this I mean I need to drive approx 700 miles to make $400. This will vary some depending on dead miles & such, but that's as close as I can figure here. Anyways, that's 43 gallons of gas at 16mpg. With the Sprinter, I needed to drive 2100 miles to make $1200. That's 95 gallons of gas at 22mpg.
Also, & this is huge, but the stress of slow weeks/months is a lot less if ya know you only have to come up w/ $400 rather than three times that. For that matter, even when I'm working, on say the 13th of a given month, the thought of "I'm still working to make this van payment" would creep in my head & that took away some of the joy in my job.
One thing I happened to do right is switch companies. I'm not doing as well financially as I did at my old company. That's mainly because of my vehicle. I definately like local runs more than over the road. They wanted me to get the Sprinter & I got one. Now that I'm back to my Ford, I'm guessing the finances of each company will be similar & I'll be able to enjoy my life a lot more. Plus, they allow us to get runs from elsewhere. Getting the occasional run w/ a 2nd company might mean things work out even better yet.
I'm guessing so far that I've been a good enough driver for them because when I told em I could no longer afford the Sprinter, they allowed me to start using my Ford again, even though they'd prefer a Sprinter. Part of this might be because I like to work nites, but hopefully some of it is because I'm pretty agreeable to taking runs & have a pretty high acceptance rate.
What I've learned is that at least for me, I will never buy a new vehicle, or any vehicle that you have to work over 3 days/month to pay for it. If I could get a dedicated route that paid $100k year & my vehicle was 2K month, I might expand that limit somewhat, like to a weeks work. Because there would be so much more in the other 3 weeks it would be worth it. But the reality is that's probably not going to happen.
I will be needing a different van next year. Mine is a 2000 model. I won't be buying a new one. That much I know. I've made that mistake once & once is enough. Again, a new van might be the right choice for your situation, so I'm not making judgements on what works for you. I'm simply saying for me it was a very unwise financial decision.
Best of success to you all,
Danny
I blame no one. I'm not mad at anyone or any company. This one is all on me. There comes a time though, when you have to cut your losses.
In a nutshell, what it came down to was I'm working 2 weeks a month to pay for a vehicle that I don't really care for. That leaves 2 working weeks a month for all other bills. If things are slow, like they are now, then it might even be 3 weeks of work to pay for a vehicle. The thing for me became a financial noose.
With my Ford, because the payment/insurance is so much lower, 2-3 days per month is all I'll need to work & then I'll start putting what I make towards my house, food, etc. The gas milage isn't nearly as good, but even then, the gas you need at 16MPG to make $400 (Ford payment/insurance)is less than the amount you'd need at 22MGP to make $1200 (Sprinter). By this I mean I need to drive approx 700 miles to make $400. This will vary some depending on dead miles & such, but that's as close as I can figure here. Anyways, that's 43 gallons of gas at 16mpg. With the Sprinter, I needed to drive 2100 miles to make $1200. That's 95 gallons of gas at 22mpg.
Also, & this is huge, but the stress of slow weeks/months is a lot less if ya know you only have to come up w/ $400 rather than three times that. For that matter, even when I'm working, on say the 13th of a given month, the thought of "I'm still working to make this van payment" would creep in my head & that took away some of the joy in my job.
One thing I happened to do right is switch companies. I'm not doing as well financially as I did at my old company. That's mainly because of my vehicle. I definately like local runs more than over the road. They wanted me to get the Sprinter & I got one. Now that I'm back to my Ford, I'm guessing the finances of each company will be similar & I'll be able to enjoy my life a lot more. Plus, they allow us to get runs from elsewhere. Getting the occasional run w/ a 2nd company might mean things work out even better yet.
I'm guessing so far that I've been a good enough driver for them because when I told em I could no longer afford the Sprinter, they allowed me to start using my Ford again, even though they'd prefer a Sprinter. Part of this might be because I like to work nites, but hopefully some of it is because I'm pretty agreeable to taking runs & have a pretty high acceptance rate.
What I've learned is that at least for me, I will never buy a new vehicle, or any vehicle that you have to work over 3 days/month to pay for it. If I could get a dedicated route that paid $100k year & my vehicle was 2K month, I might expand that limit somewhat, like to a weeks work. Because there would be so much more in the other 3 weeks it would be worth it. But the reality is that's probably not going to happen.
I will be needing a different van next year. Mine is a 2000 model. I won't be buying a new one. That much I know. I've made that mistake once & once is enough. Again, a new van might be the right choice for your situation, so I'm not making judgements on what works for you. I'm simply saying for me it was a very unwise financial decision.
Best of success to you all,
Danny
