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TRUCKING OPPORTUNITIES PRICE IS RIGHT continued from page 32 for that, too, to give you the truck’s operating history. If you’re dealing with a private party, ask to take the vehicle to a dealer and pay $100 or so to get the report. FLUID ANALYSIS Don’t stop with an engine oil analysis, because most dealers will TRUCKERSNEWSDRIVERJOBS.COM change the oil in preparing a used truck for resale. Other components, such as the cooling system, trans- mission and differentials, have oils and coolant that typically don’t get changed by the dealer, and their analysis could be revealing. “I’ve had owner-operators do that analysis and find a power divider in the process of failing,” McClusky says. The cost of the analysis is about $150 and a few days, but you may be avoiding a potential repair bill of $1,500 to $5,000 to replace the power divider. WARRANTY HISTORY Getting this from the dealer will tell you what major and minor repair work was done on the truck under warranty. Provide the vehicle iden- tification number to the dealer’s warranty administrator to get a printout. You might also ask about body damage, including water dam- age from events such as Hurricane Katrina or various local floods. SERVICE RECORDS A private seller may be most likely to have this information, especially if he’s the original owner. A dealer may not have this information, but don’t forget to ask for it. A carrier also might have the information. If a carrier is selling the truck, ask if the unit has been used in training. McClusky says if the truck has been used that way, it might be a red flag. “It’s certainly going to tell you to have an oil analysis done and have the clutch checked out,” he says. REVIVING MARKET After slogging through the dol- drums the past couple years, the used truck market is rebounding. What that means for buyers is that fewer trucks may be available, and good deals may be harder to negotiate. More shoppers are visiting sales lots, and more are buying trucks, says Arrow Truck Sales President and CEO Steve Clough. “All of the signs are our customers are having a much easier time generating reve- nue,” he says. Prices are firming, rising from “historically low levels,” Clough says. Prices last year were at or below 2001 levels. Clough says that some recent shoppers have been looking for deals their friends landed two or three months earlier and aren’t find- ing them. He advises operators who know what they want and have a budget in mind to buy. “If you wait two, three months, the deals aren’t going to be there,” he says. 78 TRUCKERS NEWS AUGUST 2010