Anyone here know 18 wheelers
 

We are in the planning stages of doing our own shipping. What would be a good tractor/trailer to look at?

How about used? If used what kind of mileage would you go with on one. The trailer we need is a 53' van. We wouldn't be doing any shipping west of the Rockies.

Sally Field sold separately.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g6OB3VDfHe...+and+my+ta.jpg

That was helpful...thanks.

go with volvo

Used truck
 

truckpaper.com is a good place to start for used equipment.
Volvo is an decent choice for fuel mileage, which is not going be exceptional due to size of the truck and weight among other factors.
Just be careful about getting anything with high miles and try to find out who the previous owner was, if it was an ex fleet truck be very leery about condition.
Buying an new is an option also but with the new emission laws, truck fuel mileage and pulling power has went to shit.
Do not I repeat DO NOT buy an automatic truck, because they work for awhile then become a ever increasing repair cost.

If you have any more questions feel free to contact me. ICQ 580458855 or email in profile

What's the cargo?

do you need a sleeper cab.. ?
ive been out of the transportation business for quite awhile, but western star, freightliner and kenworth were always decent.. a few years old will save you a lot, as long as they have been maintained properly...

westernstar- freightliner are one and the same anymore.
Owned by the same company, both pieces of junk that will cost major money in the long run.
Kenworth is a good choice for reliability just stay away from the T2000 model.

Volvo or

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/629...otectedveh.jpg

Have you considered contracting with an owner /operator? The cost of buying, maintaining, insurance, etc on your own truck would be high compared to hiring someone or 2 someones.

Unless you have a return load set up, going to be tough to justify your own truck.

That's what I am looking for. One of the fellows in our company is leading this project and I ultimately have to make the call on what we do. We have talked to RUAN about leasing new. They quoted a rig at $276.00 a day and 19 cents a mile. The estimated fuel costs are 66 cents a mile. Our shipping manager worked out a comparable to some of the Common carriers we use and even at Ruans price we will save about 30% over LTL. I am more likely to purchase and depreciate it over a few years. If we can save

Again I do appreciate the info. I hate relying on people that are trying to sell us something for that knowledge.

THe sleeper is a good question. I don't think the rig we had quoted included that. If you were looking at something on the used market,what kind of mileage would scare you off?

Anything thing over 600k , which usually means that the truck was fleet and rode hard and abused.
If buying used look for something around 200 -250k range which means the truck should have some warranty left, and if you are lucky an Owner/Operator was the previous owner.
(My Opinion) O/Os usually maintain the equipment better. Down time means loss of money for repairs and revenue.
Make sure to get any and all maintenance records , if the truck has had major repairs it will continue to need major repairs.