sprinter vs straight truck solo loads??

[hondaking38]

just some questions about the straight truck vs the sprinter van driving solo!!!!been driving a sprinter van for 32 months now ..its been paid for and am kinda wanting to buy a straight truck for the creature comforts, and possibly a larger freight base..i have talked to a few solo straight truck owners with panther and they all say there doing ok..of course we all no that the teams get the larger mile loads, but from what i can calculate. if you could average 2000 miles a week in a straight truck. the profit after expenses should be close to what i net in the sprinter...taking into consideration that i am averaging 25 cents a mile fuel surcharge and am averaging 22.5 mpg for all miles.. this wouldnt take place until spring, maybe may..i would either sell the sprinter or get a driver for it..which could possibly open another can of worms...personal input would be greatly appreciated..

 

[Moot]

Hondaking, over what period of time have you averaged .25/mi. f.s.c.? I am still running under my Con-Way contract and for 2008 I am averaging .16/mile f.s.c. This is based on the national weekly average price of diesel fuel.

 

[hondaking38]

that was for 2007 now in 2008 it seems i am closer to the 30 cents per mile...remember i drove for bolt the last 2 months of of 2007 the fuel surcharge average was much higher then panthers but the base pay per mile was lower

 

[Broompilot]

You wana be married to both your driver, his or her spouse, all the children and family than I encourage you to rent that Sprinter out and go for it. When you hire a driver you not only hire him/her but add all baggage. To bad your not United Airlines as they now charge X-tra for carry ons and extra luggage.

Hands down a Straight Truck is King.

Sorry for being Blunt seen it here time and time again. And I can add my two cents of lesson learned for trying it. I know what I did wrong just not willing to try to correct my errors of past.

 

[LDB]

If you are getting 25cpm fsc for a 22mpg vehicle you are FAR ahead of running a ST for 30cpm on 8mpg. I wouldn't expect to average 2k paid miles per week as a solo, especially if you mean as a 52 week average. I'd look at 1500 as more realistic, especially on 52 weeks.

 

[hondaking38]

ya i am sure your right, was just figuring with logging hours it should be pretty easy to average that if the loads are available,sorry i should have clarified better

 

[LDB]

If the loads were available there's no reason you couldn't do 2500 miles a week pretty easily. The problem is there just aren't that many loads on a week to week average.

 

[Turtle]

Straight truck team is King, straight truck solo is Prince. The rest of us are peasants and paupers.

 

[Critter Truckin]

Straight truck team is King, straight truck solo is Prince. The rest of us are peasants and paupers.

If you're running with a woman, wouldn't she be Queen??? Not like Freddy Mercury or anything... but I know who runs this truck!!!

 

[Turtle]

Definitely. The truck itself may be King, but if there's a Queen inside, they're running the show.

 

[rdtrpn]

just some questions about the straight truck vs the sprinter van driving solo!!!!been driving a sprinter van for 32 months now ..its been paid for and am kinda wanting to buy a straight truck for the creature comforts, and possibly a larger freight base..i have talked to a few solo straight truck owners with panther and they all say there doing ok..of course we all no that the teams get the larger mile loads, but from what i can calculate. if you could average 2000 miles a week in a straight truck. the profit after expenses should be close to what i net in the sprinter...taking into consideration that i am averaging 25 cents a mile fuel surcharge and am averaging 22.5 mpg for all miles.. this wouldnt take place until spring, maybe may..i would either sell the sprinter or get a driver for it..which could possibly open another can of worms...personal input would be greatly appreciated..

definately get a driver for the sprinter if its paid for and it has been reliable. If you have a couple months worth of expenses saved, might as well make the extra money.

 

[whitey2]

Prince-up, King! Buy my fresh annual, already leased to Panther straight truck for $5,000.
They will run you if you want to run. Cash is king baby, no payments = freedom.
Just to add some value to the thread, the NLM loads seem to be averaging a fuel surcharge in the teens, most others are upper twenties to upper thirties (cents).

 

[davekc]

If it was load for load, the straight would have only a slight edge. But........reality says there is a whole lot more freight for a straight than a van.

 

[nightcreacher]

Straight truck team is King, straight truck solo is Prince. The rest of us are peasants and paupers.

do you really think a tractor trailer team would be concidered a peasant or pauper,on the contrary,we are what all the companies try hard to keep.Just had to jump in