No doubt you have driven past a broken-down truck and breathed a sigh of relief… you are grateful that was not you sitting there with your hazards flashing. However, the reality is it can certainly be you at any moment. Have you ever thought about how you would pay for those unexpected repairs? Or maybe you have been in the situation before and struggled to come up with the necessary funds to get you back on the road. The good news is you have a few options, and with a little planning, when you hear an unexpected noise or see unexpected smoke you’ll know you can handle whatever is coming your way and be back on the road quickly.
Pull from Your Savings
Planning for the unexpected in advance provides the ideal solution for covering your unexpected maintenance expenses. With advanced planning and saving you can pull from a savings account or escrow account that you have set up for your trucking company.
Overdrive.com recently published a very useful guide for how much per mile you should be saving for maintenance based on the age of your truck:
- New: 5 cpm
- One year or 150,000 miles: 6 cpm
- Two years or 300,000 miles: 7 cpm
- Three years or 450,000 miles: 8 cpm
- Four years or 600,000 miles: 10 cpm
- Five or more years, or 750,000+ miles: 15 cpm
(Source: Overdrive.com Partners in Business tip: Keep an escrow account for maintenance costs)
Unfortunately, for many small and growing trucking companies you can have the best of intentions to put money aside for maintenance, but when your finances are tight, this is often the first money to be used or cut back.
Credit Cards
When in doubt pay with plastic, right? While paying with a credit card can certainly be the easiest option when you encounter maintenance issues that are either routine or unexpected, it can be the costliest in the long run. If you don’t have the funds to pay the bill in full and are hit with monthly interest charges the costs can keep rising.
Freight Bill Factoring
Immediate access to the funds from your unpaid freight bills can be the perfect solution to ensure you always have the cash available to cover whatever comes your way – from maintenance issues to fuel and more. The good news is freight bill factoring can offer you just that. Once you have established a relationship with a freight bill factoring company all you must do is submit a copy of your freight bill to them, and they will send you the funds immediately, so you no longer have to wait the 30-60 days to get paid. With some planning, finding the right freight bill factoring partner and getting approved, you can be back on the road quickly when the unexpected happens.
Don’t ever get caught without the funds to cover unexpected truck maintenance and other key expenses you encounter with every load you haul. Always make sure you have the tools and planning in place to help you stay on the road to grow your business.
