Everyone wants to become an owner-operator after driving for a couple of years. Because buying and driving your own truck is the second step for success in the trucking. So, a few questions there, whenever you want to switch.
When to buy the first truck?
Where to start as an owner-operator, the company where you driving or look for companies hiring owner-operators?
Where to buy a truck, private seller, dealership or auctions?
How much you should spend on the truck, brand new truck or used?
Read this article and go through the links to prepare your truck buying guide
When to buy the first truck?
The best is to drive at least three years in a good company after getting a truck driving license. Start your trucking carrier with a reputed company that trains and employs newly licensed drivers. A lot of companies hire newly licensed truck drivers and train them for about 6 months. , No doubt they pay less in the training but company reputation and experience pays you for life.
Where to start as an owner-operator, the company where you driving or look for companies hiring owner-operators?
You are lucky if the company, where you are driving, hires your truck. Because you know everything about the work, how heavy the loads are, where are the locations, the owner operator pay package, work availability and work culture in the trucking company. Otherwise, these are tuff questions for drivers looking to become owner operators.
Buying a used truck for the company you never drove before.
Review your expertise, before hunting for the companies looking for owner operators. Do not try a flatbed owner operator job if you have driven dry van so far. Read thoroughly the owner operator pay package, fuel cap, insurance deductibles, tolls, plates and parking expenses payable. Nowadays companies hire owner operators and play a lot with pay packages, read the online reviews, ask owner operators and friend circle to clarify your doubts. Unfortunately, commercial truck insurances are increasing and punching big holes in the owner operator paychecks. You need a thorough homework on these things before finalizing the company name.
How much truck loan required for an old or a new truck?
Now we have a job, get the preapproval for a truck loan based on your work. Always have an open loan, payable before the amortization period. Always buy a good condition or a new truck for highway driving and do not spend more on the truck for city truck driving jobs. A good condition truck for highway owner operator jobs will cost you around 150k.
Some trucking companies hire owner operators for local trucking jobs allow you to bring an old truck because new trucks are not worth it because of the local owner operator pay packages. So, do not spend more than 50k on a used truck for a city truck owner operator job. Always get your truck loan approval for the full truck value unless you have good savings. The best use of savings is a reserve for the unexpected breakdowns or paying the truck loan. Through some extra money in warranties, not in color, useless chrome, and truck down payment.
A list of truck loan providers in the Greater Toronto Area and Canada is available at
Where to buy a truck, from the truck for sale by owner, dealership or auctions?
Now, you have the pre-approval of the truck loan, the question is, where to buy a used or new truck? Click truck dealerships near me link for used and new truck dealerships in the Greater Toronto Area. We have more truck sellers joined from the US and Canada, find out more in the link above.
The first benefit of buying from a dealership you can enjoy extended truck warranties and coverages. Other benefits of buying a used or a new truck from a local truck dealership are good truck inventory, market prices, brand and someone to blame.
No doubt, you can buy from the truck for sale by owner listings, but, if you can trust only on repair slips and oil change records.
Why people sell trucks?
It may be a silly question, but I will be curious. Take a closer look at the truck seller’s intention, why he/she is selling the truck?. Do not dig in deep for this question, If you are buying from a used truck dealer, obviously it is their business. However, if the truck owner is selling, be careful, sometimes the curbside sellers just want to get rid of the truck, saying I’m leaving the trucking.
Honestly, auctions are for experienced truckers and fleets, not for rookies. Yes, you can buy cheaper trucks from local truck auctions, but cannot beat your luck. Try the auctions to find the market trends, but, buy if you are dead sure.
Inspect the truck, either it is used truck or in good condition.
Check the truck, either you are buying it from a reputed dealer or from the curbside sellers. Open the hood and look for engine leaks, frayed belts, rust, and excessive play in bars and joints. Look at the doors and windows, how they open and close, you can easily find out how the good driver was the previous owner?. No doubt, it is hard for sellers to sell you a piece of crap with the new rules, but satisfy yourself, instead regrating later on.
A detailed truck inspection article, cheat sheet and videos are available in the following article. Download the cheat sheet and go through it.
Truck inspection cheat sheet, article, and videos
Better to download a truck inspection cheat sheet from hereTractor trailer pre trip inspection cheat sheet and take it with you.
Truck Reports
Take a test drive to find out the practical condition of the vehicle. On top of that, Nowadays, many websites provide truck reports. These reports provide you the detailed information on accidents, truck condition, truck history, previous seller and odometer on the last service. The truck report websites provide detailed reports for a small payment, you just need the VIN number to download because of most of the reports available online. But finalize your truck before buying a truck report.
Now you are an owner-operator, keep driving safe, the next step is to open a trucking company.
Hopefully, this article will help with your truck buying journey. No question or comment is bad for us, your feedback is valuable.
Contact us at info@truckservicez.com, If you are a truck dealer, truck loan provider or related service provider and want to advertise in this article.
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It really helped when you talked about how to inspect a truck before purchasing one. Recently, my cousin mentioned he wants to buy a truck for his working needs, but his budget’s a little tight right now. I think it’d be a good idea if my cousin look
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