Truck Skirts Barriers

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Ask Your Truck Drivers Money Saving Questions HereIn a previous blog a man from CO asked why truck skirts were not as prevalent as he thought they would be. I was wondering if you had any answers to the questions that were posted…

Owner-operators, would you help us out here? If you own your own trailer and currently do not have side skirts installed, would you please share with us the reason why? Also, would you please share what it would take to get you to install them on your trailer? What kind of a price break would you need to have to buy and install them? Please comment below.

Currently I am in a group project to solve this problem. We are proposing either a stake in the company immediately, or a 10-15% return on your investment within a year. Would that be enough for someone to install our skirts on their trailers? The skirts would be around $900 for one.

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Thanks!
MS

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Response from Vicki:

Hello,

I’m posting your question but speculate on the answer to this:

1. The upfront cost of buying and installing trailer skirts or side skirts is a bit steep. If the cost of just one, as you say, is $900, then a pair is $1800. This may or may not include installation costs. For drivers who are making truck payments — and especially those veteran truck drivers who are barely keeping their heads above water financially — this may be more than they can swallow. How many miles of operating one’s truck would it take to see a full return on one’s investment?

2. If a trailer side skirt company was willing to be so brave, they could institute a financing plan along the same lines that Dynasys by Hodyon has instituted to buy an APU. That way, an owner-operator (or company) could put an amount down (say 10%) and then pay monthly until the skirts were paid for. That would surely help everyone with financial trailer skirt barriers.

3. One way to offset the cost of the skirts is for the driver to take advertising money for having his/her truck wear a “rolling billboard.” Of course the driver would need to be assured of certain things before doing this.

4. We have seen a number of different designs of side skirts, some that are flat (in line with the sides of the trailer) and some that are angled. If I was going to invest in a pair of these, I would want to know which design gave superior results.

I’m interested to know what you mean when you say, “We are proposing either a stake in the company immediately, or a 10-15% return on your investment within a year.”
* What kind of a stake in whose company do you mean?
* Regarding the return, are you willing to pay for the cost of the trailer skirts outright in exchange for a 10% – 15% return in the fuel savings that a driver receives? If so, over what period of time? (This would certainly be an interesting financing plan and require a contract and scrupulous record keeping.)

If I’ve missed anything, drivers, please comment. I’m most interested to see what other trailer skirt barriers you’ve encountered.

Thanks in advance. And as always, drivers, we wish you save travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.

Best regards,
Vicki Simons

https://truck-drivers-money-saving-tips.com/