Owner-operators are being slowly squeezed out of the California market, according to a panel discussion at the 2013 Fleet Executive Conference in Las Vegas.
Prices for compliant used trucks can get as high as $100,000 for trucks with 250,000 miles or more, but only about 10-percent of owner-operators can qualify for such a loan.
Meanwhile, trucks older than 2007 model year, trucks that will no longer be compliant, are plummeting in value on the used truck market.
The result is that the owner-operator model in California is becoming economically unfeasible.