It’s been too long since we have posted anything on our truck financing blog. We are now going to restart posting valuable articles about commercial truck financing and interesting topics around the trucking industry in general.
For today’s post I want to go over the general health of the truck financing industry and what changes we are seeing taking place.
First of all things are very busy. Lots of people buying trucks, strong carrier relationships, and more options for truck financing. We are also seeing people buying more expensive trucks. I would say the average price of a truck has increase over 50% over 2014; not a small increase. This could be a healthy sign. It suggest people can afford the higher payment.
One thing I’m noticing this year is that there are more options for financing trucks. Truck dealers have expanded their programs to accommodate their more expensive inventory and there have been some independent financing companies that have sprung up. These new options are coming with complaints however. One of the things I hear people complaining about is the lack of information these companies are giving their applicants. When they inquire with one of these companies they are not told how much they can be approved for, what their monthly payments would be, any out of pocket cost, etc. The applicant is not told this info until after they’ve completed an application and heard back from an underwriter which can take a few days. Here at Capital Solutions we are able to give you a very good idea how much we can approve you for and with what monthly payment on the first phone call. So a lot of people are alienated with these new companies.
Another indicator of a healthy industry is the strong relationships truckers are having with their companies. Most of our customers have solid contracts and in many cases have multiple contracts with various companies. In the past it was just as likely a trucker would be working with brokers as their primary source of business. I don’t want to imply broker relationships are bad but when someone has a contract it suggest a more reliable source of business. This is what we have seen.
All indications are things will continue to be strong for our industry going forward. Lots of work, truck prices solid, and excellent financing options with Capital Solutions (sorry, I had to throw that in there). We will continue to keep you informed of what we are seeing in the trucking industry and to keep you apprised of new developments.