Should You Buy Or Hire Lube Trucks?

By Author: Daniel Lewis
Total Articles: 5
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If you own and operate mechanical equipment at remote worksites you will certainly need oil trucks to service it. If you are working with heavy equipment such as excavators which are difficult to move or your equipment is fixed at the site as is the case with mining equipment then you have to carry out all servicing tasks on site. You'll require lube trucks to service your equipment so as to keep it in excellent working condition. Since you will need lubrication equipment on a regular basis you can opt to either buy it or rent it. This decision should only be taken after careful consideration because opting to buy or rent lubrication equipment can have significant impact on your business.

Perhaps the most important determinant of whether you'll buy or lease these trucks is the amount of work you need to get done. This amount of work will inform the number of machines you'll operate as well as their type, size, complexity, and the frequency with which they need to be serviced. Having keenly examined the scope of work you want to do with the oil trucks you can then decide to buy or lease them. Conventional wisdom is that ...
... you should lease trucks for lube if you have relatively little maintenance work to do. There is definitely a lot of economic sense in leasing an oil truck rather than purchasing one if you only have a few machines to look after. For one, trucks for lube are expensive. In purchasing a lube truck you'll be tying up a lot of capital and you should therefore put it to optimal use. If therefore you are only using your truck occasionally and then letting it sit idle for long periods, you are in essence wasting valuable capital.

At the same time, these trucks need to be maintained just like any other mechanical equipment and this too will add up to your overheads. If you thus have just a few machines to maintain and you only do so occasionally, it makes more sense to just rent an oil truck when you need one. Using someone else's oil truck may indeed be more economical if you consider all the expenses of operating your own. For example, you need insurance for the truck and the equipment sitting on it, not to mention the fact that all the lubricating devices need regular servicing of their own. Besides, when you lease a truck you are not responsible for repairing it should it break down or malfunction because the owner is obligated to look after it.

One argument that can be made in favor of buying an oil truck rather than renting one is that when you buy an oil truck you can have it customized to serve your particular needs whereas it is not always easy to find lube trucks for hire that can match all your requirements. There is a lot of truth in this argument. However, you will need to balance the pros and cons of owning your own customized oil trucks against other factors like maintenance costs and redundancy.

Another argument in favor of owning your own trucks for lube is flexibility. If the trucks are yours then you can deploy them at your own pleasure unlike if they are owned by someone else who might impose restrictions on using their property. It is nonetheless worthwhile to seek expert advice from professionals in the lubrication business if you are not able to decide on your own.

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