Should I buy this truck?

[ultrarunner]

The issue with transporting classic vehicles is always the liability insurance.

BTW, Tom Lester, Lester Industries and Passport Transport was origionally based in Solon, Ohio and Tom's family started out in the pressure die cast metals business and Tom started Passport Transport because he was a classic car collector and wanted a company dedicated to hauling them world wide. I got to know Tom through the Crawford car museum. My employer at the time did work for them restoring vintage vehicles. I believe Reliable is Michigan based but I don't know much about them. Transporting classic and vintage vehicles never sparked my interest as I had no desire to live on the road, even if it was a large car woth a 'house' on the back. Bad enough I hauled electrical transformers for Westinghouse and switching locomotives for them out of Cleveland. Those loads were always permit loads and always took a lot of road time and again, I never got into living on the road. I did it because they pay was fantastic but that was it. Got to drive a double bunk K'whopper with an 1693 Cat and a 13 double over and pull a Kozad or a Rodgers detachable with a tridem rear and a flip axle. Always permit loads, always escort loads and always daylight running as well. Got away from that and became a local company driver and never looked back.

Was an interesting experience but not something I would want to repeat.

Reliable dropped the ball and Passport had go to Reliable New York yard to pick up the car I had paid Reliable to pick up.

It was a total screw up on Reliable’s part…

They said no problem and I extensively confirmed with dimensions, etc. in emails and Reliable picked up the car in upstate New York with a roll back but didn’t have a single cross country rig to take it to California due to the Crosley narrow wheelbase..,

Car sat months at the Depot…

Lesson learned is transport companies even with a name like Reliable can not be relied upon because you can find your vehicle abandoned thousands of miles from home…

Just be careful when third party transport is involved and document everything.

 

[Hay Dude]

Looks like we have 2 separate discussions going in one thread.

 

[4570Man]

I wanted to make sure to avoid that altogether, although this truck has EGR (all do after 2004.5)
I have the Ram with DEF/DPF and its been fine so far, but even earlier cooled EGR’s scare me, too.

I don’t love the DEF either but I wanted a truck with an automatic and enough power to get out of its own way and as you’ve probably seen those are hard to find in a pre def truck especially a pre def truck that’s not clapped. Working ac is another big bonus which the def truck has.

 

[5030]

Reliable dropped the ball and Passport had go to Reliable New York yard to pick up the car I had paid Reliable to pick up.

It was a total screw up on Reliable’s part…

They said no problem and I extensively confirmed with dimensions, etc. in emails and Reliable picked up the car in upstate New York with a roll back but didn’t have a single cross country rig to take it to California due to the Crosley narrow wheelbase..,

Car sat months at the Depot…

Lesson learned is transport companies even with a name like Reliable can not be relied upon because you can find your vehicle abandoned thousands of miles from home…

Just be careful when third party transport is involved and document everything.

Not something I'd be partaking in anyway but I still feel your pain. The 'glitz and glitter' concerning classic transportation still comes down to logistics and profit and that applies to every commercial operation as well as independent operators. Today, profit margins are slimmer that ever while the cost of equipment is constantly rising as is the cost of liability insurance. I will say my hunting buddy with his 56 units leased on to Fed-Ex does quite well but that is a different ballgame entirely and he still has to be cognizant of every aspect or he would go **** up as well. I believe he did around 7 million last year before expenses. I have no idea what his net was however. Once you pay your employees, pay the health and welfare, pay for the trucks (a portion of them have notes on them all the time), workers comp and liability insurance, I suspect he's not getting overly wealthy, at least it don't appear to me he is. Still drives a couple year old pickup truck and lives in a modest home not far from me. I'd say he's set for the present but that can change quickly, depending on what the economy does. I do know that his fuel costs last year were a couple mil and that is factoring in the fuel discount Fed-Ex provides for it's contractors.

 

[5030]

Looks like we have 2 separate discussions going in one thread.

...and you seem to be partaking in both as well along with your typical disparaging comments....lol

 

[Torvy]

I know of some ag farmer/ranchers who use their rigs as a side-hustle when/if they have time. The really smart one will manage to get a load to take the 'other' way when moving/buying equipment.

 

[5030]

The 'taking a backhaul to pay for fuel' was the main reason why the owner operator segment of the industry has gone to the dogs. Bad policy and bad business, hauling cheap freight just to cover fuel costs and not taking into account everything else like insurance or finance notes or general upkeep. The 95 cent per mile dry box freight just accelerates the end of the business for the not astute OO. Not something that ever concerned me as I only ran (hauled) specialized freight when I owned my own outfit. If it didn't pay at least 3 bucks a mile, it didn't go on my deck and the only reason I got out of it was the fact that I prefer staying close to home so when I had a chance to hire on with a local outfit and not having the inherent responsibilities of owning an outfit, I sold out and became an employee. having said that, I still own an outfit but I purchased it just prior to retirement from the outfit I worked for and I drive it because I like to motor it, not because I have to. Besides, it's paid for. A note on a truck, especially a current model truck can be exremely steep today and factoring in a trailer and it gets even worse.

 

[not2old]

From the overall looks of it, I'm leaning towards the turd end. 20 grand isn't a lot but you could very well have 20 grand in repairs as well. JMO.
[/QUOTE]


You need to check it out better OR take a chance. You could spend twice as much or more and still end up with 20 grand in repairs.

 

[Hay Dude]

I know of some ag farmer/ranchers who use their rigs as a side-hustle when/if they have time. The really smart one will manage to get a load to take the 'other' way when moving/buying equipment.

If you don’t get a back haul, you’re hosed.

 

[Hay Dude]

From the overall looks of it, I'm leaning towards the turd end. 20 grand isn't a lot but you could very well have 20 grand in repairs as well. JMO.

You need to check it out better OR take a chance. You could spend twice as much or more and still end up with 20 grand in repairs.
[/QUOTE]

I’m figuring on some repairs. We facetimed and he started it, showed me oil pressure after it warmed up, jumped out of cab, pulled oil fill cap, no blowby. Pulled dipstick, too. No blowby.
Took it out on the road, drove back roads, drove 55 for a few minutes. Looked at oil pressure again, shifted good, looked pretty solid.
The AC blows cold and all the gauges work. That tells me there was someone keeping up with minor issues. Usually means the major issues are kept up, too.
I understand there could be some issues. I’m not using this thing for a limo service, I’m using it for a farm truck, so it don’t have to be perfect.
And I’m not married to the heiress of a fortune, so I have get started with something in the “value” price range, then address things as they arise.
I still might have someone look at it, but my connections in that area are slim to none.