Sprinter vs. Van

slfisher45 · Dec 27, 2006

I am driving a M2 Business Class FL with a 22 ft box and an 84 in sleeper.
I want to eventually get a Sprinter or maybe a van. I have talked to van drivers before but I felt I was getting blown overviews.
Can you make $50000 a year takehome?
Expediters aren't always exact on this either. I drive for Panther.

OntarioVanMan · Dec 27, 2006

Income is so subjective with sooo many variables...I could say yes 50,000 is obtainable BUT I don't know what your work habits are? Your carrier too can be important. So many factors.....

highway star · Dec 27, 2006

50k take-home would be on the very high end of the scale. I've never done it.

slfisher45 · Dec 27, 2006

. " Expediters aren't always exact on this either. I drive for Panther.". It must have confused someone. I meant recruiters aren't always exact on how much one can make.
Thanks for the input. I don't have a lot of home time. I love to drive and my wife owns her business and she works a lot also. Cell phones are our friends.

terryandrene · Dec 27, 2006

I haven't net $50K in vans since starting in 1989. I have seen documentation of one van team and one van solo that have done it; $103K gross to the team and $88K gross to the solo. Many others have said they did it, but I think they were being a bit careless with the truth.

OntarioVanMan · Dec 27, 2006

Terry..that was $103,400 to be exact gross in Canadian funds...We worked the whole year except for one week, we had NO life whatsoever. Last year 2005 was down to normal (whatever that is) $86,600 Canadian.

terryandrene · Dec 27, 2006

Congrats on the Canadian bucks but my example was $103,123 USD; that FEdEx CC team had no homelife either.

OntarioVanMan · Dec 27, 2006

Another lost couple...I feel for them. That was when we had the old 3/4T Dodge van, not alot of room to spend 24/7 with wife or visa versa *lol*

We had to do that cause we as alot of newbees we started out not knowing what we got ourselves into and were behind the 8 ball. But knew we wanted to stay in this business.

dieseldoctor1 · Dec 29, 2006

As of 12/21/06 we had been in service a total of 265 days during 2006. Note:I said in service, not on the road. Several of those days were at home and several we were playing tourist out west looking the country over but in service if they found something for us to haul. I can remember five weeks during the year we were out of service and every weekend we get home we take Monday off. We have only worked seven days this month. We had grossed over $97,000 with 130,619 miles total put on the van and almost 90,000 miles paid. Won't give our net figure but will say it met your goal. We are a team that takes a lot of time off but when we go in service we don't sit much. As I've said before: "A man that takes all the work he can get, gets all the work he can take."

Dieseldoctor

zipcards · Dec 30, 2006

I too have been looking to down size from a D Unit to a B Unit. The
best information I can get is to expect a net after tax income of
$40,000.00 per year if I were in service 300 days a year. I look at last years gross income of $108,000.00 and paying taxes on $44,000.00,
or $8,000.00, giving me a net of $36,000.00 and I feel better about the possible down size. Every van driver I have ever talked to honestly has said the same thing. "I made $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 more when I had a D Unit as long as I had a minimum of repairs." I could write a book on all the D Unit problems I have had.

geo · Dec 31, 2006

i like the sprinter as i'm able to carried more and taller pieces that a ford or gmc can't
also i put rollers in floor and able to carry heavy pallets and get em to back of van. the bigest item i have carried has been 13'4", 46 x 52 and 2100 lbs and pick it up with a forklift and back up and loaded it on my way, forklift drivers at egl weren't very happy that i pick up so big, and they asked why didn't you call for a bigger truck, said i would have if i couldn't close the door and for the money