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The Affordable Food Truck: How to Sell and Repair Vehicles

Posted by Joe Gargiulo | Mon, Jun 18, 2018 @ 10:45 AM

food truck“Anyone can make a pan gravy, but can anyone replace their power steering pump?” said one chef in the article, “What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting My Food Truck.”

He and his peers provide insight into the efforts needed to obtain the necessary permits, prep the food, maintain the trucks, and promote the businesses. In another part of cyberspace, RoamingHunger.com outlined the three most common price points of food trucks:

  • Used food trucks ($50,000 – $100,000) — The risk of hidden repairs to the engine and kitchen will be high for lower-quality trucks in the $50,000 range.
  • New kitchens on used truck chassis ($75,000 – $100,000) — Building a new kitchen may help in the long run, but a used truck can spell mechanical problems early on.
  • New food trucks with new kitchens ($100,000 – $175,000) — This approach translates to fewer hidden costs over time.

Food truck dealers can’t do much about permits, food prep, or promotion, but they can place purchasing, repairs, and maintenance within the financial means of most food truck owners. Enter CrossCheck with its 35 years of payment guarantee solutions to help facilitate the sale and servicing of light trucks, even ones that cook.

Affordable Food Truck Purchases

food truckGiven the high cost of buying a food truck, dealers rely on CrossCheck’s Multiple Check service to give buyers extra time to make down payments. Unlike pre-approved or spot financing options, Multiple Check does not require good FICO scores or credit apps. On the contrary, food truck dealers can offer Multiple Check to any buyer with a checkbook and the means to pay off their down payment within 30 days.

Using 12 percent as the average amount of down payments, a $100,000 used truck would entail the buyer coming up with $12,000 on the spot. Not so at a dealership offering Multiple Check.

With Multiple Check in place, buyers write three checks for $4,000 each, all bearing the same date of sale. Then they designate specific dates over the next 30 days for dealers to deposit each check. The remaining steps may appear magical, but they are absolutely real.

CrossCheck guarantees each of those checks as they are deposited, and even handles the banking for dealers using CrossCheck’s electronic check processing option — no more worries, no more bank trips to deposit checks, and no more collection calls when things go bad.

Affordable Food Truck Repairs

Food trucks present a one-two punch of potential repair issues for their owners — the mechanical components common to any motor vehicle (e.g. engines, transmissions, and brakes) and the kitchen components found in brick-and-mortar restaurants (e.g. refrigeration, grills, and hot water heaters).

Some food truck dealers do both types of repairs, others offer none, and there are independent garages specializing in both types of repairs or just one. Multiple Check has food truck repairs covered no matter how they are sliced.

For example, a $5,000 transmission job could be paid for using Multiple Check just as easily as a $875 invoice from an HVAC contractor who drove 100 miles to fix a broken freezer at a summer outdoor festival. It happens.

The payment process mimics the one described above: buyers write 2 – 4 checks to cover the cost of repairs, and the repair company deposits them on dates designated by the buyer without hassle or loss of funding.

Affordable Food Truck Maintenance and Parts

Similar payment processes are implemented for expensive routine service invoices (30,000-mile maintenance check), and CrossCheck even makes a product (Check on Delivery) for dealers selling parts to wholesalers such as independent repair shops.

Check on Delivery (COD) simplifies parts sales to wholesale customers because checks are approved before delivery:

food truckFood truck dealers receive an approval number after entering the estimated amount of the sale and the owner’s phone number at CrossCheck’s online Merchant Check Center. Then the delivery driver picks up a check payment for the sale after dropping off the order. Finally, checks are scanned by dealers with desktop imagers and the data is sent to CrossCheck via its online Merchant Check Center where dealers enter the final amount and the check number to complete the transaction.

CrossCheck provides payment services that mitigate risks, increase sales and simplify transactions for food truck dealers. CrossCheck never charges for account setup and training, loaner equipment, or around-the-clock customer service and tech support (even on major holidays).

Download our free guide, “Choosing a Check Service for Your Business,” to learn how CrossCheck can deliver peace of mind to your place of business.

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Written by Joe Gargiulo

Marketing Specialist Joe Gargiulo has 25-plus years in marketing, communications and copy writing. As a writer, he enjoys connecting story leads to all aspects of the human experience.