Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Financing a regular consumer vehicle is an entirely different animal than semi truck financing. Unlike consumer vehicle lenders, there are far fewer lenders in the business of semi truck financing and it may not necessarily be easy to find a lender near you. If there is an office in your city, you might not actually end up getting the deal you were hoping for - in fact, you might be paying a lot for that financing! Read on for some tips o getting a great deal on semi truck financing for your needs.
The best rates for semi truck financing can surprisingly enough be found on the web. Online lenders are more competitive, since they know that customers will go for whoever offers them the best deal. Even lenders who have bricks and mortar locations will tend to offer better deals for online customers, since doing business online lowers their overhead costs. Remember this when looking for semi truck financing - the best rates might be from a company outside your area, but thanks to the world wide web, you can get the best rates on semi truck financing from anywhere you like.
Online semi truck financing is faster and easier. Many times, the funds can be wired directly to you or the company from whom you are purchasing your truck. This makes the turnaround time so much quicker. Another great thing about online semi truck financing is that they usually have more flexible payment options. This allows you to pick the payment schedule that works best for you.
The local bank is not necessarily the best place for you to secure semi truck financing, despite the location being very convenient. They may offer these loans, but almost certainly have very little understanding of the semi truck financing market. Since they are not really in the semi financing industry, they don’t really have a good incentive to be competitive with rates. You can do much better by using an online lender.
The truck dealers from which you purchase your truck for sale is also not the best place to get financing from. There will be higher rates her than form other lenders since the dealership will usually have a arrangement to offer their financing through a few specific lenders. They don’t offer a lot of choices, which means less than ideal rates for you. While these arrangements are great for the dealership, they are not so great for you.
Locating a good deal for your semi truck financing is an important factor in your success as a trucker. A good rate means affordable payments for you, so you can worry less about your loan and focus on your business. Online semi truck financing is generally your best option for getting a favorable rate.
Posted in Truck for sale | No Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
Semi trailer trucks, or semi trucks for short, have proven to be very versatile vehicles, with a multitude of uses besides transporting cargo. Since there are now semi truck manufacturers that produce different types of beds or attachments, you can now make use of one semi to do tons of tasks, and can be a great business venture.
Having a used semi truck can be an excellent investment, especially if your business requires you to have a reliable mode of transport for inventory, machinery, and others. If you are considering buying a used semi truck and setting up your own trucking business, there are several ways for you to go about it. Below are five ways to finance a used semi truck, hopefully they’ll help you out.
1. In-house financing. Many used semi truck dealers will offer you in-house financing at a fixed rate. For example, companies like Volvo, ford, Mack, Peterbilt, freightliner and others sell brand new semi trucks, but also offer used ones for sale. Since they dictate the price, they also decide on your interest rate, which is likely to be fixed already. You then have to determine a flexible payment term.
2. Is there a zero down payment scheme? Yes, there are many private sellers of used heavy equipment and semi trucks that provide no down payment or zero down payment options for clients with reliable credit. Usually a credit score of 650 or more is needed, so have your records on hand.
3. Finding low down payment terms. Semi truck prices vary depending on the model and year it was purchased. For clients who do not have a high credit rating, it still possible to get low down payment plans from sellers. Some terms may require a 20% or as much as 30% down payment, depending on the qualifications of the buyer.
4. You can also opt to get a loan. Financing a used semi truck can be done through a bank or private lender, so you can get to pay your seller the full amount, then worry about paying your lender on a monthly basis. Loans from banks also have a fixed interest rate, and approval for amount is dependent on the credit score of the borrower.
5. Used truck auctions are also a smart way to get a used semi truck. You can check out sites online for announcements and inventories of available semi trucks up for auction in your area.
Posted in Truck for sale | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Recent media attention on the number of highway fatalities caused by semi-trucks has many people asking whether our roads are indeed ’safe.’ A fully loaded truck, like the one that slammed into the back of another truck on California’s I-5 last month can do an intense amount of damage. In that particular accident, three people were killed and at least ten more injured when the truck entering the 550-foot underpass crashed into the truck in front, causing a massive pile-up and ultimately, an explosion.
This isn’t the first time the safety of sharing our roads with oversized semi-trailer trucks has been questioned. Trucking industry practices are continuously being reformed to address the number of fatalities these vehicles cause, including reducing the amount of time a truck driver is allowed to drive without a break, instituting new methods of driver payment that do not include “paid-by-the-mile” incentives, and adding more highway patrol officers designated to specifically crack down on truck drivers that don’t keep proper log books or break traffic laws.
So what can you do to protect yourself and your families?
The trucking industry isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and while we can hope that some of these measures begin to drastically reduce the number of highway deaths, now is the time to make sure you’re driving the safest vehicles you possibly can.
Even the safest vehicles may not be able to stand up to a collision with a semi, but there are certain vehicles that tend to fare better than others. First, SUVs and pickup trucks generally keep their occupants safer than passenger cars when in collisions. While other factors obviously dictate how well passengers will be protected in a crash, such as the type of crash, the rate of speed the vehicles were moving, and the passive safety features installed on the vehicles, SUVs and pickups tend to be heavier and therefore sustain less damage.
Other key factors to examine are the active and passive safety features of your vehicle. For example, while most SUVS offer dual stage airbags (the type that protect occupants from rear-end and head-on collisions by preventing contact with the dash and steering column), the Isuzu also sports head-curtain side-impact airbags that protect the body from injuries caused by rolling or side-impacts. Taking the time to compare the safety features of your vehicle to the available safety features in models offered by car companies that are known for safety (like Isuzu and Volvo) will give an indication of deficits in your vehicles safety system.
Posted in Truck for sale | No Comments »
