What would you vets do?

[Chris A]

So about 9 months ago I bought a new van and pro1200se, got rid of my 2003 van but kept my 2009 with 5k hours. Shortly after that we started running 2 trucks every day.
Lately my old van has been showing some signs of age. I'm worried that a major repair (engine etc) would take it out of commission for a week or more and I'd be screwed. I have a really fair trade in offer from my local interlink to apply towards another new pro 1200se. I can't keep 3 trucks at my place or I'd buy a beater back up.

What would you guys do? I'm thinking the additional payment (as much as it would suck) is worth the peace of mind. With the downtime and repairs on Ole Betsy I don't think we're too far off from making another payment now. Then again I was hoping to get a couple more years of good use out of this old truck. Any input is appreciated!

 

[Desk Jockey]

We are almost done with Summer. I'd bank as much as you can and sit on it until Spring.
An extra payment in the winter when you don't need it, sounds painful to me.

Then in the Spring go full boat, trade in the ole Betsy and get the new one.

 

[Papa John]

I agree with richard

 

[ruff]

It depends on how busy you are.
How close it is to giving you major grief.
And how much financial cushioning (money in the bank) you have.

In a busy month of lost work, you may be able to pay at least a fifth of the value of the new setup.

 

[PrimaDonna]

Not sure when your busy season is. We are just going into ours. It would be crippling if a truck when down. If that's that case for you, then I understand your desire to want to have a working truck and not chance it going down. The ripple effect of haven't to cancel on clients and negative moments of truth could cost you more in the end.

But if you are already in the slow down phase, I agree with Richard.

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

Take a ride to Fl. or Az. and look for a van with low mileage no salt the bodies are clean pick a year that you like. I'm in south fl. let me know what size & model and I will let you know what's here jz.

 

[SamIam]

It looks to me a DD You need to plan better because they take longer to get. Butler a 6 week wait? Unless your buying a used ready to go rig.

Don't know the turn around to put a 1200se together?

But a guy with slide ins can buy a new van and swap a slide in 2-3 day down time tops.

The tradin offer might not be as sweet in the spring. I would do what you think you can afford.

I usually wait until I have cleared Van payment or a truck mount payment free up cash then consider it.

 

[bob vawter]

Shoulda traded the boat Chris.....you would STILL have a BRAND NEW stainless SG.....

 

[Chris A]

I like to have 12 months of payments saved extra before buying anything. Payments not really a big deal, I'm just trying to decide if it's the right thing to do. We're in our busiest month now things will drop off some but still real busy till Christmas. That being said I could probably make it work with one truck any other month, for a week or so. My mechanic is real good about getting me in and out.

 

[Chris A]

Shoulda traded the boat Chris.....you would STILL have a BRAND NEW stainless SG.....

Yeah in a 1998 van!

 

[Brian H]

We are almost done with Summer. I'd bank as much as you can and sit on it until Spring.
An extra payment in the winter when you don't need it, sounds painful to me.

Then in the Spring go full boat, trade in the ole Betsy and get the new one.

Almost done with Summer? He still has 5 months worth of the cleaning season to go before the slowdown.

Chris, can you tell us a little more about the concerns you have with that 2009 truck? Knowing that it may be due for a major breakdown, you could have your mechanic go through it to do some preventative maintenance. It might be enough to get it through til Winter.

If either of your trucks go down, do you have a back up plan?

 

[Brian H]

Take a ride to Fl. or Az. and look for a van with low mileage no salt the bodies are clean pick a year that you like. I'm in south fl. let me know what size & model and I will let you know what's here jz.

I have sold several Butlers to people in Florida and Texas and I am in Michigan. The notion that cars from the north are rust buckets is back from the time before we had our vehicles rust proofed.

 

[Bob Pruitt]

Butler a 6 week wait?

At least... that is too long. Swapping slide ins seems a better way to go especially now with the better water cooled motors...should last much longer.

 

[Chris A]

Chris, can you tell us a little more about the concerns you have with that 2009 truck? Knowing that it may be due for a major breakdown, you could have your mechanic go through it to do some preventative maintenance. It might be enough to get it through til Winter.

If either of your trucks go down, do you have a back up plan?

Basically, it's old. It creaks, squeals, squeaks, but still kicks ass every day. If 1 went down right now we'd be working 7 days a week to keep up until it was fixed. Worst would probably be a week for a motor. Lots of parts have already been replaced

 

[Brian H]

Basically, it's old. It creaks, squeals, squeaks, ....

Hey, that sounds like me getting out of bed every morning.

 

[bob vawter]

Yeah in a 1998 van!

well i suppose one can lead a horse to water.......

BTW...i bought a 98 Passat about seven years ago...put a few bucks in it and it's JUS LIKE NEW!
V6 five speed and will outrun 98% of the cars on the road today...

my 02 Audi 2.7T Bi Turbo put two car lengths on a new Hemi Challenger

 

[rick imby]

I would line up a spare machine somewhere. You never know when even a new machine can go down. Even a homebuilt etm you can draft into service when you are desperate makes sense.

Do you have any friends nearby that have a van you could rent or borrow? Like Ofer said if you are down even for two weeks and can only cover half the work the second truck would do the losses could be large.

Since most of us work 11+ months to pay the bills the loss of one truck for two weeks especially in the busy season hits profit way harder than it hits gross sales.

 

[rick imby]

Bob,
I thought you were a big block kinda guy...

Do your VW's get the quoted fool mileage?

 

[Willy P]

How many pounds of boost does that bi turbo put out? Much lag?

 

[dealtimeman]

A lot of factors to consider.

If you have 5 months to clean on it and you have a major piece of equipment that will cost you money frustration and the possible loss of customers you can't service if it is down, it makes more sense to get in a new one and start using it as quick as possible.

If you can truly stretch and use your current setup until next spring with any kind of certainty, from a financial standpoint it would be wise.

The conundrum you are in currently is that you have what you feel is a fair offer and the possibility of getting a new setup that will take one kind of stress away with the financial stress that still lingeres thru the winter.

It will come down to you knowing your biz and what you can comfortably float and can't.

Which of the two stresses, stresses you more or you value more.

If we were dependent on two vans and one was tetter tottering on breakdown and I had a good deal on the table for it in trade for a new setup, I would simply look at my current books, look at last years books compare numbers and if it was favorable, I would get into the new setup.

As a biz owner that is profitable one of our main jobs is analyzing risk in our biz day In and day out.

For you this will be a judgement call based on your numbers, what your schedule looks like and what you would rather be worried about- a broke down truck costing you (time, money , possibility of losing customers that won't wait or reschedule) or if that extra payment is going to stretch you budget too thin or make it too close.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Two identical setups is priceless.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Winter is coming fellas. I'm already tuning up the snowblowers and purchasing ice melt.

Brian just got taken off my Christmas card list.

 

[ronbeatty]

Raise your pricing and get rid of the bottom 10% of the jobs you don't want to do anyway

 

[Cleanworks]

I think you are looking for problems that don't exist. Your 2009 van with 5000 hours, if it was well maintained, should be reliable for a while yet. Don't think a new vehicle is going to solve your problems. I know a guy bought a brand new ford van and went through 2 transmissions in under 40,oook. Both times it was covered under warranty but both times his van was unusable for a week. Take a good look before you upgrade. If your van looks good and runs good, I would keep it a little longer.

 

[Chris A]

My inner cheap ass says my truck is fine but my inner guy who likes shiny shit says "buy all the things!" Can't find an extended 3500 6.0 anywhere anyway so it may be a moot point

 

[Cleanworks]

Buy a transit, put a slide in it.

 

[Chris A]

Never, unless I was completely out of other options

 

[Chris A]

The slide in, not the transit, I like those

 

[Desk Jockey]

Wait it out, save your money, this urge will pass.

Next Spring splurge!

Uhhh if the second unit does pop...its ALL Brian Hanna's fault!

 

[Wing It]

Tough decision. If you have a good mechanic pay them well (bribe them) to get you fixed quickly should the unfortunate occur. If you want to sell it and buy new, just tack on what you put into it. People who pay top dollar want a van that works, not one they can work on. I buy my van's mechanics and carpet cleaning unit's mechanics pizzas regularly. One 7.99 pizza may get your van fixed quickly and save you lots of money by not being down long.