Here are some key questions that will help you find a refrigerated truck that will perfectly fit your needs:

What is the primary product you will be transporting?
What is being carried and how cold it has to be maintained are the two most important factors. These factors affect how much insulation is needed. For example, transporting dairy products requires different specifications than transporting fresh seafood.

What temperature(s) do you need to maintain?
Refrigerated trucks usually carry products the last miles before they are delivered. Maintaining the correct temperature is critical, and is a function of the type of refrigeration system used and the amount of insulation in the walls, floor, and roof.

How are your products packaged (pallet, milk-type crate, boxes, bags, etc.)?
Packaging of the products affects the airflow within the refrigerated body, which affects the flooring to ensure that there is adequate airflow throughout the body.

How much product weight will you be hauling?

Will the products in the refrigerated truck need to be maintained at different temperatures?
If so, the truck needs to be designed for multi-temperature operation.

What is the outside ambient temperature range you will be working in?

How many times per day will you be opening the doors?

How long is your average workday?

How many stops per day will you be making?

How long is each stop?

What is the interior and exterior truck body length, width and height you will need?

Will you need a particular bed height and bumper for dock loading?

Will you load your truck by hand, with a hand truck or with a forklift?

Will you need a side door?

For your rear doors, do you have any special considerations such as type, height or width?

Will you need cold curtains on your rear or side doors?

Do you have any liftgate requirements?

If you are using a liftgate, what are the ramp and lifting capacities you will need?

How will you secure your cargo?

What type of flooring will you require for your product?

What special interior or exterior lighting needs do you have?

Will you need electric standby to keep your product’s temperature consistent overnight?
Is the cargo removed from the refrigerated truck every night, or does your customer need to keep the product inside the truck? Electric standby lets them connect the refrigeration unit to an outlet for power during stopovers and overnight.

Once you have these answers, you can start finding the optimum refrigerated truck for you.

Some commercial vehicle brands are either leaving the market altogether, or abandoning the Low Cab Forward (LCF) segment. Here are the facts:

• Sterling, Ford and International are leaving the LCF market!
• Hino has three models: 145, 165 and 185 in classes 4-5 – and they’re dropping those!
• GM discontinued the C4500 and C5500.
• Ford will not have a diesel in the E350 and E450 commercial cutaway after this year.
• UD has not disclosed any plan regarding the future availability of their 1400 and 1800cs models with 2010 emissions.

How Isuzu Trucks Compare*

*In relative terms of body payload allowance

I was amazed by this, but scared to death of what this was going to cost, and expressed my fear to my sales representative. He smiled and stated that he figured that would be the case. The total charges for all the special movements, overtime and modifications would result in only around $1000 more for both units. That brought a smile to my face. He said he even had more good news that would guarantee my regular maintenance for the contract period. Although the contract with the state had some allowance for consumer price increases, it was very little. I was also concerned about the financing, since I did not have a great deal of cash and did not want to draw down on my line of credit.

Once again my sales representative, who seemed to have all the answers, had already taken the first step. He presented a TRAC Lease for 48 months, a 30% residual, no money down, no security deposit and just the first month’s payment at delivery. I was astounded by this arrangement, and then was even more amazed when he presented an optional Priority Service Maintenance Program that would guarantee my cost of preventive maintenance for the term.

In addition to the normal preventive maintenance, he had included two sets of tires, two complete sets of brakes and invaluable roadside assistance, all with a cost of under $10.00 per working day, based on the average of 22 working days per month. He even presented me an estimate of the fuel costs based on a conservative number, and savings based on up time using the Priority Service Maintenance Program. He even made arrangements to have the vehicles dropped off once a month on Friday evenings to give the vehicles a check over and cleaning, ready to be picked up on Monday morning.

I realized I was not just dealing with an individual that wanted to sell a truck, but a Transportation expert who wanted to provide me with a complete transportation solution.

I called my accountant and put him on the speaker phone, verified the tax benefits of the TRAC lease with preventive maintenance, and then I PRESSED HARD THREE COPIES.

I dug in my drawer and called my local Isuzu dealer that I had been working with for years, explained the situation and told him that I needed a miracle: two trucks in ten days, outfitted and ready to roll. One would need to be a 24’ Van with logistic straps and one crew cab with a 14’ body. Our techs could help outfit the interior. The main requirement would be immediate delivery.

My sales representative told me that he would drop everything and be over in 30 minutes to meet and see what could be done. The meeting was short, to the point, no nonsense. With specifications in hand, he headed back to his office. Three hours later, and to my relief, he called and said, “it looks like we can make this happen. I will be there in 20 minutes.”

We got together as planned, and he frankly told me that if we all worked together, we could make this happen, but it would be tight.

• The 24’ Van Body was the big issue. He had first called ICTA Distribution and found a chassis with body, but the body would need some interior modifications and liftgate. Based on the time constraints and the vehicle being in Southern California, Supreme Body Company had promised to pick the vehicle up at the dealer in Southern California. They would take it to their plant in Moreno Valley, put a couple of people on the interior, get the liftgate installed, and it would be ready for pick up on Thursday night.
• The crew cab was more challenging! The chassis was available, but was at the port in San Diego and usually requires a matched load for shipping, and that can take up to ten days. However, ICTA distribution was jumping through hoops to either arrange a load immediately or a port pick up to get to Supreme in Moreno Valley. Supreme Body Company could not turn a new body around, but had agreed for a couple of hundred dollars to pull a body off an ICTA pool unit. Once the order was received, they would pull the body within 24 hours and when the chassis arrived, they would turn the vehicle around in 48 hours.
• Delivery and remaining upfit could be performed at the dealership by using the dealer’s technicians under the direction of my foreman. They were prepared to work the following weekend.

Although business was challenging, I arrived at my office with my normal positive attitude. The office interior business was way off. However I was holding my own and had not needed to lay off employees, although I had curtailed some expenses. I logged on and checked my email and came out of my chair with excitement.

Eight months earlier, I had lost a bid to the State of California for refurbishing, moving and supplying office interiors. The e-mail was from the purchasing department, asking for an immediate verification that my company could pick up the existing contract. It seems the winning bidder had shut down their operation on Friday.

What an opportunity! In addition to this, due to exceptional cash management, I had been able to pick up some very nice discontinued units that would fit the government perfectly.

I went to the file and pulled out my copy of the bid package to review all the details. I remembered a good deal, but wanted to bring myself and my warehouse / transportation manager up to date. After reviewing, I was excited, but also in a little panic. The e-mail indicated that they needed the new vendor to be able to start business by the beginning of July, just 10 days away.

I called together my total team and told them that the contract was very lucrative, and we would all need to pitch in, work overtime and be ready to move. I do not run a company based on popular vote by employees, but I wanted to challenge them and see if they wanted to share in the extra work and profits. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of “making it happen”!

The first and most costly challenge was trucks! Although I had six 14’ van body trucks, I would need to dispatch at least three daily, since one vehicle needed to be outfitted with hardware, work station, benches and cutting tools. In addition, it would require a generator to power the tools. Each day would require a supervisor, five assembly workers and two technicians. I suddenly realized it may not be possible to make the deadline.