dieseldan

Tom Said:

This discussion had gotten buried almost two pages back, so I thought I would bring it back on top of the pile to see whether any new lurkers had come online in the past 3 weeks. I think this roster of lurkers has had the beneficial effect of prompting some long time lurkers to finally join in our discussions. Thanks for joining us vocally, and for the silent lurkers, I'm glad you are enjoying our discussions. For those lurkers who have not already done so, please let us know that you are here and what brings you here with a single introduction. And then you can go back to lurking again. Thanks, Dan

RW- I'm glad Alice is doing as well as she is - I wish the two of you my best in these trying times. Don't get discouraged - things will improve. Hopefully she will be walking again soon. Dan

Howdy, all of you lurkers - and a big WELCOME! When I started this string several weeks ago I had no idea whether there were just a few or a lot of unknown and unrecognized silent observers eavesdropping on our HDT discussions. As it turned out, I'm pleasantly surprised that there are so many of you who are not only following our discussions, but are either in the planning phase, or actually driving HDTs. Your numbers have boggled my mind. I thought we might get up to possibly four pages of posts, and we've exceeded that! I have not taken the time to count the actual number of lurkers. I suspect this list will continue to grow over time. I'm delighted that so many of you have found our discussions helpful in either planning for your next toter or in purchasing and improving one based on the information posted here. So many of you have addressed me by name in your posts here. I think rather than to dilute the discussion from lurkers identifying themselves here, I will review those posts and address them individually outside the forum as warranted. I've just been sitting back watching your posts mount - to my amazement. Again - My most sincere thanks to all lurkers for making this discussion thread the huge success that it has become. For those lurkers who have not yet signed on, Please do so in order that we can all get a feel for the full extent of our reach beyond the actively posting members of this forum. And for all lurkers - please don't be to bashful to ask any burning questions or to volunteer some bit of information that could benefit our membership. Please come back often,and enjoy what is here. I hope you will all eventually become actively posting members of this forum. Dan

Following is my feeble translation of Salmueras_y_Crema's post using several web language translators:

LongGone said:

LMAO Jon- You oughta re-enact that and subit it to America's Funniest Videos. It has the makings of a $1,000 prize winner.

David- Remember - this is a lease for their convenience - not mine. My truck is currently titled and licensed as a motorhome. If he wants to use it as anything but a motorhome he'll have topay all associated costs, plus make it worth my effort to provide a truck so that he can make money while my truck wears out faster. I'm basing this partially on Ryder's rates, blended with inputs from Penske and local truck dealers. Penske wants a $5,000 deposit with a line of credit and a printed application. They charge $1,030 per week with their insurance plus 19 cent per mile. Without their insurance (they will require renter to provide proof of acceptable alternate insurance coverage) they want $610 per week and 19 cents per mile. Ryder provides maintenance. Renter provides fuel. If they don't like my terms they can rent from Ryder or Penske, and I'd be just as happy that my truck was safe in storage for the winter with fewer miles on it - and no strangers driving it. Gene - I agree with you about an LLC leasing the truck to them. It provides me a good shield of asset & liability protection.

Gene - Thanks for your input. I would make the Lessee responsible for all costs related to the commercial operation - Licenses, DOT inspection, IFTA, minimum insurance coverage to my specs, fuel & fluids, weekly wash, routine preventive maintenance and major components, up-front security deposit, etc. Lease rate something like $3,000 per month plus 17 cents per mile (about $800 per round trip). Figure on a round trip weekly. It could pay for half of my truck.

It looks like i'll be stuck here in Anchorage for most of the winter taking care of bizness. I was contacted by a guy who wanted to buy my truck. I don't want to sell, but I migt be interested in leasing it to him on a net-net-net lease to haul produce from the Seattle area to here for the Fred Meyer stores. Probably a round trip weekly. It would help my cashflow, Maybe that's a good enough reason to keep the tandem axles and Holland hitch in place. We are discussing it now. It's gotta be worth the extra wear and tear and risk - or I'd rather park it for the winter. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Maybe we should just keep one openly running discussion string that all mobile members periodically add updates, checking in just to let others know where they are and offering any significant comments about places they are or have been, comments about parks visited, etc. This might be a good place to start it now. The title is right.