I AM SEARCHING FOR FINANCE OR LEASE OPTIONS FOR TOW TRUCK

[TACTOWBOSS]

I hope this is the place to put this question! Searching for lease company or finance company to get us done on new truck. We all know towing industry financing is a must in order to keep reliable equipment that will meet the demands of our daily call volume. Been in the industry for 21 years. Opened my own company 6 years ago. Last December I closed and merged with another company that was more financially able to keep better equipment and help than I was just for less burden. What seemed to be a great deal was short lived and I found myself having to buy the company I just merged with because the two owners owned multiple businesses and the towing business (that i managed) was their only hands off business. I was told it was for sale when the future owners approached and asked if i was staying on and what my salary needed to be. Nope not loosing what i built to hand to a stranger not gonna happen. So i made a phone call and got with my cousin and we gathered up some cash and i bought the company that i had basically already owned with a client list i built and brought from my company. So to make a long story short i've had to start over a few times in short period even though i have never really started anything over im here answering the phone and running calls or getting them ran by drivers and have been all along, but as the bank looks at it we haven't been in business very long yada yada. I purchased the S Corp and kept the name and tax id number of the company and it is 20 months old now. I have a partner that works as a union welder fitter job with a very good income and we as a company are doing fairly well. But I can't seem to get financing for a new truck. I need one now and another in 6-9 mos honestly is our goal. Is there any lenders, investors, or lease guys left that don't just look at a few numbers on paper and make a decision.  

[goodmichael]

You are not going to like my answer, but you need to hear the truth. Your statement that financing is a requirement to keep reliable equipment is a red flag for me. Financing a new truck is a major risk for an institution or investor for a business entity that is only twenty months old. You did not mention in your post what type of equipment you are currently running. There are far too many companies that have burned bridges and bought equipment on a hope and a prayer, only to not be able to sustain the immediate depreciation of purchasing a new vehicle, or not having a solid business plan which results in their running up 300k on the clock and owing 40k on a truck worth 15k. Then just walking away.

If your equipment is running, keep going forward with it and save money to upgrade with used equipment. New equipment breaks down just like old iron does. This advice is coming from someone who sold equipment for a Miller distributorship. A dealer can get this deal done, but they are not helping you. You are going to get your head knocked off in interest. Can you afford to lose twenty percent off the top by purchasing new?

As an industry, we need to reevaluate the over all business model of having the bank as a partner. They are a willing partner as they have the marble, chrome, and tinted glass buildings, weekends, holidays, and nights off. They are taking a taste off of your operation. They are a parasite just like the motor clubs, or as an analogy, a tick on a dog.

Financing a startup is not a good plan, it is a roadmap to disaster, especially new equipment. And you are a startup. I understand that you are sentimental to the roots of the company, but it is a new startup with twenty months on the clock. I used to see a person driving new equipment and think that the company was doing well. If you are up to your eyeballs in debt you are not doing well, you are not sleeping well, and have the onyx on your shoulder at every turn.

 

[TACTOWBOSS]

I didnt feel like that mattered what i was running I just need financing, but here you go. I have a 2011 international rollback air brake air ride 21.5 LCG bed, Maxxforce with 286k on it and a 2000 chevy C6500 19.5 vucan bed 238k CAT motor. Not junk really both good truck and both paid for. The fact is both are kinda high miles and can stop at any time so i need a newer lower mile truck to stretch out the life of these a little. a front line truck you might say. then i can sell the oldest and turn that into a medium duty wrecker so i stop losing those type of calls that i don't have a truck to run. RVs, box trucks, dump trucks, etc... so one payment out of three truck i don't think is bad. Can I live without it? yes I have a profitable business like it is. But I want to grow and this is what i need to do in order to do that. I just feel like tow truck financing is tough for some and easy as pie for others. If it was a new family car i could spend just as much and walk away keys in hand but a tow truck is like your asking for blood. It makes our industry so that the large companies strive and smaller guys have to die because they can't update their equipment like the fleet guys can. 

[ESC]

We use Eastern Funding in NY.  We have had great luck with them.  I just financed one a few weeks ago with Brian D at Eastern.   To be honest, they make it too easy.  We have a good relationship now after 5 or so trucks, so I call him and say hey Brian we have a new truck coming in.  Then he emails me the paperwork and its done.  They make it super easy.

 

https://easternfunding.com/specialty-vehicles/

[TACTOWBOSS]

I actually just sent them paperwork i found them on some tow show stuff i was reading. I owned a landscape company many moons ago out of high school and i had a local bank that I had that same relationship with. Buy anything i needed and call and say hey cut us a check and they would have it ready same day or very next. Didnt matter about all the petty stuff. They even had us sign blank financial statements cause they said that's not important we just have to have one on file. That bank was awesome. Problem is that was over 25 years ago and 4 states away from me now. Hopefully Brian Can get us taken care of we are going to Baltimore next month and hope to buy at the show if we can get pre approval set up. Thanks for the info!

[ESC]

I actually just sent them paperwork i found them on some tow show stuff i was reading. I owned a landscape company many moons ago out of high school and i had a local bank that I had that same relationship with. Buy anything i needed and call and say hey cut us a check and they would have it ready same day or very next. Didnt matter about all the petty stuff. They even had us sign blank financial statements cause they said that's not important we just have to have one on file. That bank was awesome. Problem is that was over 25 years ago and 4 states away from me now. Hopefully Brian Can get us taken care of we are going to Baltimore next month and hope to buy at the show if we can get pre approval set up. Thanks for the info!

That’s exactly how it works for us with those guys. Always been a great experience. We have another truck ordered now for January and Brian just told us to call him the week before it’s in to do paperwork. So easy.


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[goodmichael]

Not all big companies are all that profitable. You stated yourself that you are profitable. That is a huge accomplishment, one you should be proud of. My advice is to save and upgrade with a newer, not new unit. Let someone else take the depreciation hit. Just because everyone else is doing something does not mean it is the way to proceed for everyone. This industry does not need financial institutions to survive. If people did not buy new trucks unless absolutely required the market would adjust. That financial institution you think is your friend, your ally, your business partner; just miss a few payments and see how fast the relationship goes south, way south.

Pay yourself, not the bank.

[occupant272]

I'm not buying new until the business justifies it, but you can find deals on stuff 3 to 6 years old.  Way less than new, still looks and drives new, just doesn't cost as much to get a hold of.

 

Buddy of mine bought a brand new 2017 F550 rollback.  He's making a monster payment on it, more than his mortgage.  It'll be paid off in five years but as hard as he's running it, the truck will probably have 250-300K on it by then and be in need of a rebuild on the V10 and a replacement for the auto trans.  That'll cost him eight or ten grand to do.  Maybe he'll be able to run it a few more years without payments and make some of that money back up to not have to finance the next truck.

 

But I look at it this way.  Dude is putting like 1300-something a month into this truck.  That's before insurance, fuel, oil, filters, belts, wiper blades, tires, brake linings, everything you need to keep it going.  If he had picked a six year old V10 rollback that already had the motor done, it would've been less than half the money.  The payment would at least be cut in half, or say by a third if he financed three years.  And then he'd have it paid off sooner without as much stress to cover it each and every month.  Or he could've bought something older, same GVWR, same engine, same bed, just on a 99-02 title.  Cost him ten grand.  8 months of payments in one shot and then NO payments.  Put the money away.  Buy parts as needed to keep it going.

 

I just don't see the value in a new truck.  Maybe it's because I'm cheap.  Maybe it's because I never buy new.  Only my Corolla that my wife drives was new.  We've put 84K on it in 16 months Ubering.  Too bad Hino trucks aren't as reliable as their tiny cousins.  The ONLY thing we've replaced on that car outside of oil, oil filters, air filters, and wiper blades...has been one set of tires.  Still on the original brake linings.  Still crystal clear coolant.  PS and brake fluids not even close to needing flushes.  I've done the little paper tests on this stuff.  It's like the car doesn't age.

 

So if a new tow truck can't be as reliable as a Corolla, give me something old I can work on myself.  I don't want a $4500 Snap-On scanner to tell me what's wrong with a vehicle.  I want to open the hood and eyeball it and say, there it is, change the vacuum hose or belt or injector pigtail, and be DONE with it.