I'm in the process of buying an electrical contractor and am thinking about eventually replacing the fleet with restored and mechanically updated 1947-1953 GMC pickups. (Think the truck in the Hidden Valley Ranch commercials) I did one for a previous business I owned and can have one built up for 1/3 the price of a new truck. They seem to me to be an opportunity to create a rolling billboard with the company name. Any opinions?
Suppose it would be a neat idea, but what about fuel costs? And what about the other guys driving them into the ground. The old trucks were nice but when they break it sometimes can be a hassle getting them parts.
Posts: 1440 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
I think that is a very cool idea. You will lose any benefit of claiming depreciation, though considering the initial cost of buying new, you will probably save money in the long run.
Posts: 261 | Location: VA, AL, GA | Registered: 23 October 2007
The running gear would be replaced with late model running gear from the Chevy P-30 delivery vans with the Cummins 4BT diesel. From what I have seen the bread vans get 25-30 mpg.
I hear that companies pay people to get into the background of national broadcast event camera shot, like a Nascar race, wearing a company that.
I believe it is mostly about getting their name before the public. The old truck idea, if correctly and nicely done, would certainly make your name more of a household word in your community.
In accomplishing this goal, we have a sign on the fence at the local baseball field, banners sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce on select light poles in our downtown area, a small add that runs in our local paper every week, ads on promotional city maps, the highschool football schedule, real estate guides, etc. None of these, in itself, generate a high volume of leads for our design / build company, but it gets our name in the public. I am often surprised (maybe not), at least once a month, in meeting new people, when someone says, "Oh yeah, I have heard of y'all." It is the old "hat in the camera shot" strategy.
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