Financial Decisions

[DannyD]

It was brought up in another post about credit cards. Another post mentioned insurance. The credit card issue I have pretty well covered. The insurance issue I got a rude awakening, but one I'm glad I got. Ignorance isn't always bliss.

Financial decisions in this industry, & life in general, aren't always about how many miles you get & how much you get paid per mile. So many other things factor into the whole equation. For example, person A buys a $10,000 vehicle w/ a $250 payment. Person B buys a $30,000 vehicle w/ a $700 payment. Person B is going to have to make $450 more every month to start generating income for him/herself than Person A will.

So even if person B makes $.90/mile while person A makes only $.77/mile, Person B is still going to have to drive 3461 more miles every month to make the same amount as Person A if all other things are equal. These little things are important & add up quickly. Any money saved on insurance, credit card fees, com data, or what have ya is either money you can save, spend as you see fit, or take an extra day off because that's not money you have to earn.

Other factors enter into the equation for sure. In my case I took a lil less money to be home more often. Once I got w/ EGL, I often took runs from up north that paid less per mile because I enjoyed the scenic drives more than Detroit's rush hour traffic. So emotional decisions do factor in there. At the same time, had I known I could pay $100 less/month for my insurance that's that much money I could have done what I wanted with. There's no emotion in that. Just logic. Or in my case ignorance.

My question here is what do you consider some of your better financial decisions in this industry & what do you consider some of your not so great ones?

Thanx & take care,
Danny

 

[Outside_the_Box]

Danny,

I enjoyed reading your post. Keeping an open mind and pursuing different avenues is a good idea.
I was going over my NTL insurance and read that the insurance was only in effect as long as I was permantly leased to the listed carrier. Which got me thinking what would I do if I wanted to go with another carrier. So I started checking into my own Primary Liability Insurance with physical damage, which covers the vehicle 24/7/365 loaded or unloaded, leased or not. It turned out that the cost would be $ 100.00 less per year, which is not a lot of money, but less than what I was paying for my NTL thru the carrier.
Also, OOIDA has insurance carriers that can cover your OCC/ACC insurance for a slightly lower cost than some carriers.
It pays to question and pursue the answers, some will work some will not.

And remember, always think..........
Ouside_the_Box

 

[RichM]

Good post Dan but one thing to consider is that Person A will probably require more maintenance, and will have greater chance of a breakdown thus having more down time then Person B.

 

[Broompilot]

APU, plus a Fantastic Fan Installed for moderate tempratures as to not have to run the APU until it gets in the Mid to High 80s if you can find one of the Col Trees.

Eat one meal a day in the truck min. Utilize showers, carry no balances to avoid intrest charges. Maintaine your vehicle and check those tires while sitting, My last trip thru LA, hit a pot hole, noticed a indentaion in the tire 2K later the out wall was cupping, replaced with a equal steer depth 12 same as the good one. Than I paid $85 to check Toe and sure enough besides breaking a belt on that tire the Alignment was out thus I would have destroyed the replacement and still would have started to chop the edge away. So savings? Two new Steers in about a month $700.00.

Budget yourself a daily amount of $ you allow to spend on yourself, if you stay under do not cut it back, but splurge once a week after a nice run and celebrate, nice dinner plus maybee an inexpensive motel. Some prefere not to ever get one but its a nice treat now and than.