TORONTO — A bed of roses? Probably not, but owning a truck is still an achievable dream. With profit margins as slim as they are today and good paying freight is getting scarce, there’s no room for even a minor mistake.

Still, on the bright side, if you’re an owner-op who’s planning for tomorrow and looking for a truck, there’s no better time than the present.

Rick Way, owner of a Guelph, Ont.-based 40 truck fleet, says you should want to avoid debt as much as you possibly can.

“Debt is a killer,” says Way, who’s managed to keep his financing costs to a very manageable level.

Buying used today offers several advantages: there’s a healthy supply of used equipment on the market, and many trucks are being offered privately; because of the number of trucks on the market, pricing tends to favor the buyer; and interest rates aren’t bad right now.

What that all means long term, is you can start your trucking business with a reasonably priced piece of equipment, keeping your acquisition and financing costs very reasonable, and if the market is stronger in two or three years, you’ll get a good dollar when you trade it.

The worst mistake an owner-op can make is tying up all his or her cash flow in debt service. If you’ve got reasonable payments, you’ll be better able to weather a downturn in demand or rates. If you need to maximize your income every month to make the payment, you’ll have no wiggle room when things get slow.

And that’s just the position many buyers find themselves in today.

“There’s been an adjustment in value,” says Frank Olivera of Arrow Truck Sales. “There’s some product out there that’s kept its value, and other product that has been slipping — depending on the specification. It’s strictly a demand situation.”

In a down market, used truck prices can be pretty good

Buying Strategy:

Look through any used truck listings and you’ll find four-year old fleet trucks advertised at $40,000 or so. Remember, that’s list price. The smell of an interested buyer can bring prices down fast in a market like this one. If you go in with $10,000 down and finance the balance over two years, you’ll come away with a monthly payment of less than $1,600.

By the time it’s paid for, it’ll still be worth roughly $20,000, which now becomes the down payment on your next truck.

If you shop around for another fleet truck, you can find two-year old trucks selling for $50,000. You’re still only financing $30,000, again over two years.

Your payments stay about the same, but maintenance and repair costs should decrease marginally. And when you trade that one in, you’ll have increased your equity even more. Your four-year-old truck might still fetch you close to $30,000. If you’ve managed your business carefully, there might even be a little profit in there as well, bringing your equity up to $40,000.

The idea is to build a little equity with each trade, and use that to keep your payment roughly the same — around $1,600.

Nevio Turchet of SelectTrucks in Toronto says working with a good carrier is key, as is understanding the business side of the business.

— to read the whole story be sure to pick up the current April print issue of highwaySTAR, Today’s Trucking’s sister magazine for drivers and owner-ops.