ok...
sprinters are great trucks with a few downsides...
an unhappy employees can blow a motor in a heartbeat. look into the transmission and shifter.
there are not a lot of qualified mechanics to work on sprinters. make sure you have a few available in your area, or you could be looking at serious downtime should something go wrong.
that being said, we have an '05 with 70,000 miles on it. No major problems, 7 oil changes and 1 loose hose clamp. I can live with that.
u2..that's the point of the lease, it doesn't cost you a dime. It pays for itself from day 1. $1000 or so for taxes,etc at inception, $1 at the end. The rest of the time, it's making the money needed to pay for it. Below is not directed at you alone, it's a generalized statement, you just happened to be the catalyst.
electricmanscott started a thread in another forum. I learned the theory from a plumber about 10 yrs ago. Very simply put..."the customer pays for everything"
there is no reason you can't afford a "new truck" right now. Unless you are not charging enough.
EC's do tend to look at items (trucks, equipment, material) and think...I'm not paying that much...I can't afford that...whatever.
We forget that all the items above are expenses, expenses that are Costs of Goods Sold (or COGS for those that know what a P&L is:))
These items are either direct expenses (material) or overhead expenses (vehicles, equipment, etc)
If you are a full time EC, there is no reason on earth you, even as a one man shop, can not afford to put a new van on the road. Even at $600/month. That is $30/day for the average 20 day working month. That is 2 dimmers a day extra (after deducting all costs) that is nothing. $30/day.
$30/day is $3.75/hr. for you T&M guys, raise your hourly rate from $50/hr to $53.75 an hour. The $600 is deductable, so there aren't really any extra taxes. But charge $54.25/hr just to cover any extra taxes.
If you can not figure out how to make $30/day extra...go work for someone else who can, and learn from them.
We are not talking about a 1 man shop renting a shop for $2000/month in addition to a van. We are talking about a van that will make you money.
again, u2, sorry, i am not speaking directly at/to you.
