Balancing Commercial Truck Financing With Rising Gas Costs

Today's economic times have created havoc at all levels. Whether you are financing or refinancing a house, going food shopping or looking to finance a commercial truck or automobile, times have changed. The lender and market conditions have created a new market pertaining to financing and its related costs.

With Lenders commencing new business deals and receiving hords of repos back from customers, either voluntary or not, the lenders' job to survive with today's economic climate is more difficult than ever before. Additionally, we are just starting to see the dealer/lenders come up with new gas price saving promotions which we will discuss later in this article.

Today, lenders must take back their repos back as quickly as possible, recondition their inventories, and put them back into the their revenue stream ASAP with extreme caution. This is a very difficult task based upon today's economic conditions and the price of oil going up every day. Most lenders/dealers have broken away from traditional lending practices and come up with ingenious promotion tactics. Some have advertised as low as first payment only, sixty months to repay, regardless of age of the truck, and prior bankruptcies waived. Additionally, their credit score requirements may start as low as 575 and start up businesses are welcome.

The type of trucks we can consider here range from dump trucks, garbage trucks, box trucks, water and vacuum trucks, boom trucks, day cabs, semi trucks, concrete trucks, etc, etc

For the consumer, this presents itself with an unique opportunity, but with perils of potential problems. The employee who never had a prior opportunity to enter the finance market has changed at this junture. The start up business can enter this market especially for a repo and come away without a lot of investment risk. First payment only deals were a pipe dream before, but today the economic conditions have changed these factors. The lender giving sixty months terms on all vehicles regardless of age reduces the monthly payments and entices the buyer to the financing arena. Favorable residual buyout clauses for passing of title and other promotions have made this a buyer's market.

With all these favorable buyer concessions, one thinks he should be comfortable to enter this market but there are many pitfalls to consider. The new game in town that is getting everyone's attention is the price of oil and its effect on gasoline prices. With the price of oil over $130 a barrell and possible thought of it reaching over $200 a barrell may cause the buyer to reconsider its decision making. The consumer, owner operator, the fleet owner has to inject these factors into its decision making whether it is a new truck or a repo. Additionally, with the concern about global warming and the pressure for cleaner emissions. the buyer is on the defensive to understand all these variables.

Additionally, the consumer must understand his buying patterns relating to buying diesel, where to buy it and how to preserve his engine. Diesel fuel can sometimes vary from one shipment to another or from one area to another. Customers also switch from one fuel vendor to another and suppliers sometimes change the fuel they are offering. The three things that vary the most in diesel fuel are cetane, weight and viscosity.

Today the balance between the finance costs of the truck must be equally weighted with the gas expenses. These components must be evaluated with the revenue curve to ascertain a favorable outcome. This applies for the start up as well as the seasoned business.

When commencing a deal today, it would be advisable to consult an accountant and/or attorney to make sure you understand the pros and cons of your investment in today's economic climate......

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Off Lease and Repos, Semi Trucks, Big Rigs and Over the Road Trucks

In today's unstable economy, the start up and seasoned business has an unique opportunity to acquire an attractive deal for off leases and repos for semi trucks, big rigs and over the road trucks. Due to a contracting economy, many lenders have excess inventories on their books that they need to put back into their revenue stream as quick as possible. These in-house inventories are non income producing, therefore putting pressure on the lender to make a deal with the consumer. These deals can be found in the price, the financing or a combination of both.

An off lease and repo semi truck has been returned to the lender as the lease has expired. The lessee has made a decision to return the item in lieu of exercising the buyout option. A repo has arisen due to a default of the lessee for non payment terms or a violation of the terms of the lease. Either way, the lender has taken these trucks back and/and now must recondition them and either sell these trucks or re-lease them.

The lender will either advertise their inventories through their internal sales force, trade journals such as truckpaper, truck trader etc or utilize outside professionals such as brokers to move their inventories as quick as possible. Sometimes, as these inventories either sit or whatever reasons aren't moving, the lender will put these items up for auction.

Some of the lenders in the market have advertised personal credit qualifications as low as 575, prior bankruptcy rules amended or ignored and start ups welcome. Additionally, the front money to commence the lease can start as low as first payment to whatever you might able to negotiate. Some of the lenders have application only programs up to $250,000. There are no financial statements, income tax returns or bank statements required. Additionally, some lenders may defer some of payments to get the semi trucks financed. The buyout clauses on these over the road trucks can range from a $1.00 buyout to 10% to 20% Trac leases to possible fair market value buyouts. One should understand these clauses because they have an impact on the passing of title.

For this article, the type of items we are going to identify as potential deals for the customer are the following manufacturers.

Petebilt, Mack, Kenworth, International, Freightliner, and Volvo.

Additionally, these semi trucks utilize a substantial amount of diesel fuel and this gasoline cost should be evaluated in conjunction with the finance costs of the truck. As the price of oil keeps going up, the decision making on both the dealer/lender and the customer has made it more difficult to balance the factors of profitabilty and survival.

In conclusion, this is a buyers market for semi trucks and one should evaluate all the factors relating to this acquisition including gas costs, air emissions, environmental type requirements, buyout clauses and the related financing.

Happy hunting for your acquisition and related financing...

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