I am going to sit back and be a student here out thanks for the welcome I feel more comfortable with my decision of going over the road and hope I can use my skills as a diesel mechanic to keep my wheels turning. Thanks everyone I will keep you all informed on my journey.
Be careful about over-valuing your diesel mechanic skills. Granted, there is not a non-mechanic trucker out there who does not wish he/she had more mechanical skills. And granted, maintaining your truck well and being able to do some of your own work will reduce your operating costs and down time.
But notice that when the truck is running well, which it will most of the time, the value of your mechanical expertise to your business is exactly zero. When there is no repair bill in play, there is no money to save by doing your own work. You don't have to be a mechanic to keep the truck running well. When Diane and I were in the business and on the road, our truck had very little down time because we followed the maintenance schedule, and we had it checked at the first sign of trouble.
Diane and I were a husband/wife team. It was comforting to me to know that in a previous career she was a Registered Nurse. But I only asked her to call on those skills when I was sick or injured, which seldom happened. If I needed medicine, the pharmacy charged us full price. There was no discount because Diane knew more about medicine than the average person. As with a nurse in the truck, so too with a mechanic.
Also notice that things happen on the road that a mechanic and an ordinary truck driver will be equally affected by. If you need to be towed or if heavy equipment is needed for a repair, it does not matter if you are a mechanic. The bill will be the same.
It's good that you have mechanical skills. But you don't make money as an expediter by being a good mechanic. You make money as an expediter by being a good expediter (with the business skills successful expediters have).
