newbie wannabe?

[rbjqb6]

Introduction first, I live in the south suburbs of Chicago and have been doing local delveries for the past 5 years now, with a small box and flatbed w/moffit. I am married with 4 kids, one in college and am looking to change directions in the business.

I have been reading over the forums now for about a month and its nice to see an industry or niche market where people share information to help each other out. It seems as though experience if a big factor in accepting/declining loads and how it affects your next load availability and resulting location.

I guess I will get to my question (for now) then. I would like to know if anyone would have and operating cost per mile or info of that sort for a 2005 freightliner 22' straight M2106.

Thanks for the help

John

 

[TeamCaffee]

Have you all ready bought the truck?

Before you buy a truck figure out what company you are planning on leasing with and make sure the truck will meet their specs.

You will need to have the ECM pulled to find out the lifetime average fuel mileage for that truck so you can calculate your fuel costs which is our biggest expense. From there you can get the figures from the company you plan on leasing to or from an outside source on insurance costs. You will know what your payment will be for those costs. Maintenance on a used truck are about 10 to 12 cents per mile that you will need to put away in a maintenance fund. You will also need to save for your estimated quarterly tax payments. This is just a start to the list of expenses.

This spreadsheet from OOIDA will also help you with costs. Some of this does not affect a straight truck but there is still a lot of good information here.

OOIDA Foundation | Tools | Cost of Operation Spreadsheet

 

[greg334]

Linda,
Don't you drive an M2?

I think he is looking for just a general idea of the cost for planning with an M2 not just the steps to find out the cost. The ECM dump is a step he should take when he picks out a truck, as a dyno test and other things to ensure the truck is worth buying.

My cost without the overhead of the loan is rather high at 48 cents a mile but I don't have an M2 or a new truck.

 

[rbjqb6]

Thanks for both the answers, had no idea abut the ecm dump and the OOIDA web site will be a ton of help. The maintenabce 10-12cents and the overall cost per mile 48 cents are a great help.

you guys are w wealth of info.

John

 

[greg334]

John,
When you buy a truck, remember that this is a business and it takes money to get into any business. Many make is out as easy as making a pie but it isn't. You want to spend a little money to find the right truck, don't settle for something that is sub-standard and costing you more money in the long run. I don't know your mechanical knowledge level, so if you know little, try to learn by having someone show you things beyond checking the oil.

The ECM dump is one of four things I recommend any potential buyer of a truck to get. It tells you what is in the engine's computer, like the settings for speed limiters (one of many examples) and data from how it was used. Many ECMs keep in memory how many hours the engine was idled, how many gallons of fuel used but also tells you if there are any problem codes, which may be archived in memory.

An oil anaylisis, which may be difficult to do if the oil was recently changed. This tells you some of the information on how the engine is internally, only part.

The other part comes from a dyno test with blowby, which tells you the rest of the story. Each engine model has a limit for blowby, and you will be told what that limit is when you have it done. The dyno test also tells you how much percentage of HP is being made, if it is less than say 70%, pass on the truck.

The last of the four things is what is called a Vischeck, which tells you somewhat how good of condition the chassis is in.

When I looked at the trucks I wanted to buy, I paid for these tests because I didn't want to deal with the owners telling me a flat no. There was a few who refused to deal with the "hassle" and I passed on those trucks. I found two, and decided on one that had great stats and since that time has been dependable - doesn't look great but dependable.

Hope that helps.

 

[highway star]

doesn't look great but dependable.

Aww, c'mon Greg, it's got character! It just oozes charisma.

 

[greg334]

shhhhhhhh....

 

[rbjqb6]

Greg, awesome info thanks

John,
When you buy a truck, remember that this is a business and it takes money to get into any business. Many make is out as easy as making a pie but it isn't. You want to spend a little money to find the right truck, don't settle for something that is sub-standard and costing you more money in the long run. I don't know your mechanical knowledge level, so if you know little, try to learn by having someone show you things beyond checking the oil.

The ECM dump is one of four things I recommend any potential buyer of a truck to get. It tells you what is in the engine's computer, like the settings for speed limiters (one of many examples) and data from how it was used. Many ECMs keep in memory how many hours the engine was idled, how many gallons of fuel used but also tells you if there are any problem codes, which may be archived in memory.

An oil anaylisis, which may be difficult to do if the oil was recently changed. This tells you some of the information on how the engine is internally, only part.

The other part comes from a dyno test with blowby, which tells you the rest of the story. Each engine model has a limit for blowby, and you will be told what that limit is when you have it done. The dyno test also tells you how much percentage of HP is being made, if it is less than say 70%, pass on the truck.

The last of the four things is what is called a Vischeck, which tells you somewhat how good of condition the chassis is in.

When I looked at the trucks I wanted to buy, I paid for these tests because I didn't want to deal with the owners telling me a flat no. There was a few who refused to deal with the "hassle" and I passed on those trucks. I found two, and decided on one that had great stats and since that time has been dependable - doesn't look great but dependable.

Hope that helps.

 

[TeamCaffee]

You can pay for the tests up front our buy the used truck and keep paying all of the time you have that truck for repairs you could have caught if you had just spent the money up front.

Great info Greg.