Yes we like new equipment. When you buy a new truck, everything is new; new tires, new trailer, new hydraulics, etc.
Let’s looks at whey we like and buy new equipment.
First there is old equipment:
Pros: cheaper payments
Cons: everything is used and will need to be replaced sooner rather than later
They break down and this costs time money and pissed off customers. When they break down by the side of the road I have to call a tow company, have the vehicle towed to a repair shop, and put my driver up until the truck is repaired. Most importantly I have to call the customer for every vehicle on the carrier. All this is a total of 10-12 phone calls. This badly eats into or eliminates any potential profit on that load. These delays impact my customers and cause a lot of work and headaches on my end. There can be other smaller issues that don’t require a tow job and days of delay. A broken hydraulic line or blown tire still require down time and significant amount of customer communications.
Now for new equipment:
Pros: none of the issues noted above
Cons: a very large monthly truck payment. When you consider the cost of a new truck and trailer can be north of $250k that can be staggeringly massive.
This is a position we have evolved to over the years. Like most new companies, when we were starting out we had used equipment, it’s a simple matter of economics. From our website https://shawautocarriers.com/about-us/ you will see we have run our own maintenance and trailer building facilities. As you can see I speak from experience, we prefer new equipment.
