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. | A rule of thumb is that a heavy truck will produce about $100,000 in expenses per year (driver, fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation and administrative). Close attention to truck ownership risk factors (and their time lines) can reduce risk and expense numbers in each category |
| depreciation- I've told my customers that the new truck they purchase will depreciate at least at the rate of 1 cent per minute* and a nickel a mile for the first few years they own a truck. Even more if the used market place don't place a premium on. the truck make and model (1996) |
Generally a used truck has the most relative
value(best percentage of new cost for the miles) the spring of the year, when it has about
a quarter of the new truck warranty left for the next guy.
Fortunately, that is when the new model year is released and happens also to be the best time to buy new |
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| The key to gaining the lowest depreciation for
the truck you buy, is to think out timing down to the month ...or, think
through some exit strategy's 2, 3, 5 years
out.
When you buy a truck, buy a truck that the used truck market place finds more desirable, something someone is standing in line to buy. When you own the truck, you should do a good job of logging basic maintenance, try to maintain at a shorter mileage interval level than recommended. Typically, this will help make the truck a much better one in the "out years", for you, should you need to keep it. If you can verify your maintenance program with a hard card and backups, so much the better, as you have given the next owner another reason to buy. |
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maintenance - some
sort of "hard card" maintenance log is a must. Ideally, it stays with the
truck, simply miles, dates and a shorthand version of what was done to the truck.
One good system uses one of those expandable cardboard folders with the elastic band to
hold receipts and a 8 1/2 by 11 hard card inside (a link to an
example you can print on heavy paper). |
The trend is for longer periods between grease
jobs and oil changes. While technology has advanced and improvements have been made
on specific components the advances have not been equal or in lock step. Some
components will still require a frequent look, tie rod ends, king pins and steering
columns are a couple of good examples, if they aren't greased frequently, obviously
maintenance costs go up. It is good insurance for you and your used trucks future
value to document service inside the recomended intervals.
Also, the standard components on a truck (even Kenworth's) aren't necessarily what you
want. Check out my standard component
analysis to see what I mean. |
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| fuel- air resistance increases with the cube of the speed. 60 cubed= 216 thousand, 70 cubed = 343 thousand. All things being equal, you will burn 1.58 times more fuel at 70mph than 60mph. Simple physics. Tire tread design and tire pressures impact fuel milage nearly as much as speed. There are a number of things you can do to improve milage.... to be continued |
