Preparing for an Accident

[Bruno]

This past month I was involved in an accident where a car was pushed into the back of our truck by another truck. It got me thinking of where I would be at if I didn't have a back up unit at the office to drive while my truck was getting fixed.

Some owners or driver's don't have the use of another unit until their truck is fixed in most cases. My truck was down 35 days, which can put someone out of business if they don't plan for things like this.

Some insurance companies offer down time insurance of $150.00 to $175.00 a day for the maximum of 30 days. That sounds all well and good, but. That is only $4500.00 for a month if you have the $150.00 a day or $5250.00 if you have the $175.00 a day down time insurance.

What happens if your truck is down for three months like our one truck was? The driver ran over two telephone poles doing $28,000.00 in damage to our truck? When I downsized to just one truck back in 2003 my truck was hit and drug sizeways doing $21,000.00 in damage. I had no truck to drive or a way to make a living. I had to go buy another truck so I could support myself.

I'm only posting this to get other drivers and owners to be prepared in case of things like this. Most people don't plan to fail, the fail to plan is what I always say. Planning is key in any business.

 

[billg27]

Run out quickly and by a pos cargo van. Use that as some income until your truck is repaired, then dump the CV again. JMHO

 

[brokcanadian]

What do you do when a pos van is your main income? Buy a pos car?

Save some of every pay. Myself, I have to get it taken out, I'm not disciplined enough

 

[ATeam]

We never had an accident that stopped the truck but we were prepared because we maintained healthy cash reserves. In the event of a major wreck in which we were not injured and forced to stay somewhere else, Plan A was to tow the truck home and have it repaired there. That eliminates the stress and expense of being marooned on the road and dealing with unfamiliar vendors.

Plan B, C and D would be variations of Plan A, modified as severity of truck damage, distance from home, expected length of down time and injuries were considered.

Many expediters cannot sit on an amount of money of any kind. Once it is there, it burns a hole in their pocket and they live run-to-run or month-to-month, or they borrow money to buy something and then live to make payments. Before we spent anything out of the ordinary, we built up and kept six months of gross revenue in the bank. That money was never tapped, but it provide a lot of peace of mind during slow times and when the possibility of serious truck wreck was considered.

Is it even possible to bank six months of gross income? It is if you live within your means and make that goal a priority. Granted, it was easier years ago when you'd have months where all fixed expenses were met by the 15th and you might get a couple $5,000 - $7,000 runs before month end. But even in today's lower-revenue environment, the plan still works. Live within your means and act according to your stated goal.

 

[davekc]

Over the years there has been all kinds of financial casualties from wrecks, health/family issues, major breakdowns all the way to mismanagement of funds. Always make sure you are financially stable before jumping into this or any kind of business. Bad things happen to good people but most if not all is from being undercapitalized. All kinds of stories in the EO archives regardless of vehicle type.
Always good to increase your odds before you sit down at the poker table.

 

[tknight]

I had the Same issue when my truck blew it's motor fortunately it happened during concert season so I ha a good source of money to deal with it total outlay including the bad motor I got the crankshaft on was 36 grand had this been nov till April Id have been really screwed ! I am still recovering from it all and its been 14 months, but it's all good.

 

[Bruno]

Planning is the key. I have seen many great posts from Ateam and Davekc talk about planning. As our goals have changed so has our planning on how we do things. Nobody wants to be in an accident, but you have to plan for one in case one does happen. We keep one truck in our fleet empty for that reason. It usually the oldest truck in the fleet and one that is paid for. Plus by doing that our carrier may need help with a local run and we can help. We try to keep one of the guys at the office qualified so they can do short runs if we need them too.

 

[Skyline]

If your average monthly profit for the last 12 months was X, then that is the loss of income you sue the quilty parties insurance for. If the accident is your fault, then you have to live with what you insurance pays per day according to your agreement. Been there, done that.

 

[TeamCaffee]

We had a truck hit by a car fleeing the police and our truck was down for a couple of months. We took advantage of this time to learn about working for a fleet owner as we had never done this. We drove for Expedite Services in one of their trucks until our truck was repaired. Could have we stayed home YES did we want to stay home that long NO and that is why we decided to try something new.

This experience was an eye opener in many ways.

We were in a truck similar to ours but the truck did not have all of the bells and whistles our truck had. We still drove for fuel mileage and were really a little surprised at how well this truck performed.

It had been years since we had been in an OEM sleeper and we quickly realized that we were taking all of our room in our Bolt Sleeper for granted.

We found Expedite Services to be easy to run for and we were left alone to make decisions on loads.

Not having a big refrigerator and the amenities of the Bolt Sleeper we started to gain weight as we were eating out for most meals.

If we were going to be in an OEM sleeper for an extended period of time we would have changed the sleeper some to fit our needs and not have eaten out so much.

It was a great learning experience and we made some money while our truck was in the shop. We appreciated Expedite Services allowing us to have this truck for a few months and to run for them.

For some this might be a great backup plan if you do not want to stay at home while your truck is being fixed and it is something to consider.

 

[coalminer]

I have a Chevy van that I could hop in and make money if my truck is going to be down for a while. Now if it's an accident, more than likely I'm done because my truck has no real value, any damage would be more than the value of the vehicle. And as it stands now, no way I could afford a new vehicle payment, unless things turn around.