5 Things To Know Before You Purchase A Water Truck

What do water trucks and crypto currency have in common?  Quite a bit.

• Both crypto and water trucks are popular in today’s market place
• Choosing the right water truck for your business can be a complicated proposition
• The wrong choice could cost you your life savings

Maybe we are being over dramatic but there is a lot to ponder prior to, buying, renting or leasing a water truck. Here are five things to think about prior to investing in a water tanker.

1) Know Your Application

Water trucks are a versatile piece of equipment used in industries like, construction, agriculture, fire fighting, and emergency services. However, a water tanker designed to deliver drinking potable water is a much different truck than one used for construction. That may seem obvious, but even within the same industry there can be subtle variations. For example, let’s take a water truck set up to fight fires. We had a client purchase a water truck for the purpose of helping out with fighting wild fires, only to find out that the truck did not meet the standards to be approved for government jobs. The retrofits needed cost them thousands of dollars.

For the price they spent on a used truck, they could have bought a new truck that all ready met the government standards. Even If you know your application, do some research, talk to people in the business before committing to a truck. Popular applications include dust control and soil compaction at construction sites, fire fighting, filling ponds for agriculture use and drinking water for emergency services..

2) Make sure you have the correct specification you need

While this goes hand and hand with knowing your application, having the correct specifications will go a long way to your success.  The most popular trucks have a water tank that hold between 2,000 – 4,000 gallons. You can find custom heavy equipment trucks that hold considerably more but most of these are for off-road use.  Charter Trucks sells quite a few single axle Peterbilt water trucks that hold up to 2,500 gallons, but be careful, the legal limit in many places for on the road use is only 2,000 gallons.

While the tank capacity of your water truck is the most obvious spec, other considerations like the type of hoses and nozzles needed, the type of job sites you will be accessing are all important specifications. Not to mention where you source your water. Will you get your water from a fire hydrant, from a garden hose, draft from a body of water or a combination. Other things to consider is the type of cab controls needed and whether you need a medium or heavy duty truck chassis.

3) Who will be driving your truck?

This is an easy question to answer if you are an owner operator.  However if you have multiple drivers, the answer can be more complicated. The challenge of hiring drivers for your heavy duty water truck used to be finding Class A license. Today, you are faced with a limited supply of drivers of any type. And if you find a driver, you must now ask if they can they drive a manual transmission.

Finding drivers is competitive. Creature comforts like air conditioning and a nice stereo may be the difference between your truck sitting and working. In addition, when hiring, make sure to verify candidate identity and history with fingerprint-based background checks so that you can get the top candidates needed for the job. In addition, if you want to easily monitor your drivers’ driving habits and see who is liable in the event of an accident, you may consider installing Dash Cams. With the assistance of these and other fleet- and asset-tracking technologies, you will find that your company sees higher productivity, improved safety, and simpler processes.

4) Should you purchase new, used, lease or rent?

You have determined the type of water truck you need. Now you must decide whether you want to purchase new, used, lease or rent a truck. How do you decide? As a used truck dealer, Charter Trucks sells a considerable amount of water trucks. Purchasing used is not always the best option. Factors that determine the type of truck you need include; your budget, the custom nature of the truck body as well as service availability. In many cases you may be better off spending more money up front to get what you need, instead of buying used and trying to build a truck.

Buying pre-owned and building a fire tender may ending up costing more in time and money the purchasing new. However, a low mileage used water truck for dust control from a reputable dealer such as Charter Trucks will save you thousands of dollars compared to buying new. Or maybe you don’t know exactly what you need but you need something fast. Renting a truck from trusted companies like Herc Rentals or United Rentals may be a great short term option, not mention saving you from a costly mistake.

5) Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions

Whether you are buying new, used, renting or leasing, don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions. Your business depends on making the correct purchase.