We started off doing employee owned. Now we provide a company truck. We own one, and have a small loan on a newer one. Depending on where you are leasing may be a good option

We decided to go the new company truck route for two reasons: less worries about breakdowns and distinguishing ourselves from the "splashers and dashers.”

Out here, every service company runs around with either nothing on their truck or a small magnetic sign that is not readable from 10 feet away, so you can tell if it's the plumbing, HVAC, or pool guy. After we got the truck, we had it fully wrapped to ensure everyone knew who we were, what we did, and how to contact us. So far, it's worked out great. 

We go the new or slightly used route. We have the nicest trucks around. Like mentioned above, most the companies out here in our service area have old beat up trucks either with no door logos or barely even legible door logos. I’m not big on leasing, especially a service truck because you will end up having to purchase the truck at the end of the term anyway because the amount you’re going to pay in penalties (i.e. over miles, wear and tear, etc) is going to cost you so much you’ll just end up buying the truck and that purchase price is predetermined when you lease the vehicle. IMO, you’re better off just buying the truck new. If you need to get into a truck with less out of pocket costs, then buy a slightly used one which is typically what we do. Once we have the truck we add all of our decals to it and number the truck for identification, stock it and its ready to go. 

Company owned newer used trucks.  I don’t like the look of a beat up truck.  I think it reflects poorly on the bsuiness

Company owned a mixture of new and used all of them are in great shape.  Keep in mind the first thing a customer sees is your truck so it is the first impression you make on a customer when you pull up.  You also do not want your techs in some unsafe rust bucket with no air.  They won’t stick around long if they have to deal with vehicle issues every other week while out on a route.  

Does anyone have experience on using a utility trailer towed by a fuel efficient mid-size SUV 

Also what is the average cost to wrap a truck? 05 f150

This is Mike The Pool Dude,

I have been in the service industry for over 50 years total and we found that with company or personal trucks for employees and or 1099 folks our requirements are about the same. “We want the service vehicles looking good , professional and well kept at all times” PERIOID! We require quarterly inventories, this keeps folks honest with parts and consumables. We compare that to what they have either bought on a company card or taken out of our company store.

We perform monthly inspections on company trucks for maintenance, origination, inventory, safety and cleanliness. We have a form for this that includes inventory items on the truck. Again to keep folks honest. (We had a guy years ago in another industry that was storing hazardous materials in is basement that he had stole, ever 15K in stolen product and parts). Than is a crime not to mention very dangerous to himself and his family living in the home. Not to mention the liability on the company. This is the kind of thing that gives owners nightmare and can keep you up at night when you are trying to run a safe and responsible service company.

We have a company credit card for fuel and maintenance only for company employees. For our 1099 folks we pay them in a manner that we pay for chemicals but they pay for their own maintenance and fuel.

For purchasing company vehicles we decided on the Toyota Tacoma SR5 base model and ended up getting a fleet account and finding a dependable fleet buyer outside of the dealership model. We tried leasing for a while and used to use the Ford Ranger until they discontinued it years ago which is when we went to the Taco. The lease was a write of each year but the expense was not what we wanted. We found that depreciation was much more beneficial to our company but others will need to make that call for their companies.

Hope this helps. Depending on how many service vehicles you have, we finally put someone in charge of the fleet and started doing our own basic maintenance like oil changes, brakes and other simple things in-house. Even truck decals believe it or not its easier than you think.

Happy days,

The Pool Dude :-)