It’s becoming a noted axiom in trucking these days that new trucks, despite an often bigger sticker price, offer better fuel economy and overall improvement in life cycle costs versus older equipment.
[You can delve more deeply into why that is so by clicking here, here and here.]
Now, this is sure to be a topic that breeds more than a few arguments. But I recently came across a humorous take on this subject at the expense of LTL operator YRC Freight.
Now, not to poke fun at YRC, but they operate some pretty old trucks. And the motor carrier admits it, too; they recently told David Ross, managing director of the transportation & logistics research group at Stifel Capital Markets that bringing a brand new Class 8 tractor into their fleet right now would net a 16% to 17% return on their investment, with better fuel economy and lower maintenance costs more than offsetting the higher depreciation that comes with new highway iron.
“Plus, there are added benefits from improved safety, improved driver morale, and more reliable service,” Ross noted in a research brief he filed about the company.
However, YRC didn’t tell Ross exactly how “old” their old trucks really are, though its gone through the trouble of retrofitting all 14,000 of its tractors with a variety of new safety technologies, such as in-cab cameras (
using Lytx for YRC Freight equipment and MobileEye for trucks operated by its regional carriersNew Penn Motor Express, Reddaway, and Holland.)
