single driver's

geo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Navy
what i have notice with the prices of new trucks , they have price single driver out of this you. have to have a team, to be able to make payments for unit, you have to plan time off, maintenance
then a single driver looks at used equipment , prices are not much better, for good equipment
have to look at way's to get into this if you want want to , by way of driving for a fleet unit
look into small business admin for any program that you could use
if your military retired , or wound warrior they may be help
if a single driver wants to do this have to look at van's , how are going to set them up. so you will be comfortable on the road

also look at other things you may be able to help, write a book, write music, sales things on road
i did mary kay, shoes, lap top's and a few other things
 

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Not sure what kinda trucks your referring to, vans, straights, or 53ft. Either way, at today's prices even a team has much to worry about with this kind of investment.
It takes two special people to live in the same house together, let alone a truck for any length of time. I commend any team out here that is living in a 4ft box for any length of time, married or not.
Solo or team drivers I would recommend some long hard thinking before getting into this industry with the investment it would take today. In 07 I can still hear folks saying, you paid how much for that freightliner. Im sure all truck prices are off the charts now, I don't follow em.
I don't by any means, mean to say ya can't carve out a living out here, Just give it some serious thought. When a Van or a straight cost as much as a small 3 bedroom ranch home, something has gone wrong somewhere.. Think before ya leap.
 

kg

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Owner/Operator
Not sure what kinda trucks your referring to, vans, straights, or 53ft. Either way, at today's prices even a team has much to worry about with this kind of investment.
It takes two special people to live in the same house together, let alone a truck for any length of time. I commend any team out here that is living in a 4ft box for any length of time, married or not.
Solo or team drivers I would recommend some long hard thinking before getting into this industry with the investment it would take today. In 07 I can still hear folks saying, you paid how much for that freightliner. Im sure all truck prices are off the charts now, I don't follow em.
I don't by any means, mean to say ya can't carve out a living out here, Just give it some serious thought. When a Van or a straight cost as much as a small 3 bedroom ranch home, something has gone wrong somewhere.. Think before ya leap.
Yes vehicle prices are enormous but the real problem is the return on investment in this industry.

Stay safe
KG
 

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Just curious, what kind of return on investment would you be looking for? I think a solo owner operator can buy a slightly used, very clean straight truck and be quite successful.
Nobody denies that money can't still be made, but kinda makes ya wonder why there are slightly used very clean trucks on the market.. I understand a whole host of reasons could be the cause but Im leaning towards a poor ROI for anyone that gave up those newer trucks in the last few years.
My thinking, the used truck market should be booming right now with show room prices as high as they are.
 

T270_Dreamin

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Just curious, what kind of return on investment would you be looking for? I think a solo owner operator can buy a slightly used, very clean straight truck and be quite successful.
Nobody denies that money can't still be made, but kinda makes ya wonder why there are slightly used very clean trucks on the market.. I understand a whole host of reasons could be the cause but Im leaning towards a poor ROI for anyone that gave up those newer trucks in the last few years.
My thinking, the used truck market should be booming right now with show room prices as high as they are.


My observation when checking the truck classifieds recently was that a lot of straights from 2000-2010 were going cheap some below $30k some under 20k which is considered very inexpensive by expediting standards. The others were mostly 2014 to current year model selling in the $80k-200k range so prices seems to be all over the place on used trucks.
 

Jim Tropf II

Active Expediter
Carrier Management
Nobody denies that money can't still be made, but kinda makes ya wonder why there are slightly used very clean trucks on the market.. I understand a whole host of reasons could be the cause but Im leaning towards a poor ROI for anyone that gave up those newer trucks in the last few years.
My thinking, the used truck market should be booming right now with show room prices as high as they are.

I think the reason that there are many slightly used trucks are on the market because fleet owners feel like the need brand new equipment to keep their teams on board anymore. So its three years and flip 'em in order to pull the equity for the next down payment.
 
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Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Nobody denies that money can't still be made, but kinda makes ya wonder why there are slightly used very clean trucks on the market.. I understand a whole host of reasons could be the cause but Im leaning towards a poor ROI for anyone that gave up those newer trucks in the last few years.
My thinking, the used truck market should be booming right now with show room prices as high as they are.

I think the reason that there are many slightly used trucks are on the market because fleet owners feel like the need brand new equipment to keep their teams on board anymore. So its three years and flip 'em in order to pull the equity for the next down payment.

That's properly one of the possibly reasons. To me a 3 year old truck is near new. These past few years I'm thinking few teams have run the tires off a truck to justify trade in. Between 4 or 5 years I could see it. But I'm not a fleet owner, times have been lean for me and I'm sure they are lean for the fleet owners also. Making some stretch the life of the truck.
What ever the reason, I'm hoping folks haven't lost their trucks vs trade-in or just walking away from them.
 

Jim Tropf II

Active Expediter
Carrier Management
That's properly one of the possibly reasons. To me a 3 year old truck is near new. These past few years I'm thinking few teams have run the tires off a truck to justify trade in. Between 4 or 5 years I could see it. But I'm not a fleet owner, times have been lean for me and I'm sure they are lean for the fleet owners also. Making some stretch the life of the truck.
What ever the reason, I'm hoping folks haven't lost their trucks vs trade-in or just walking away from them.

I am pretty tight with FYDA these days, and have not heard of many owner ops walking away from their trucks. I am sure there are a few, but I don't know if that number is any higher than usual.
 
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