{"id":3155,"date":"2022-05-14T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-14T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/?p=3155"},"modified":"2022-05-10T01:59:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T06:59:42","slug":"day-cab-sleeper-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/day-cab-sleeper-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"Day Cab to Sleeper Conversion vs Buying A Used Truck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In business, you\u2019ll find yourself needing to trim back on expenses where you can, either because you\u2019ve discovered you\u2019re needlessly spending too much on one thing, or because you need to increase profits. But what do you do if that expense is something necessary for expanding your business, like adding something to improve your fleet or making it easier for fleet drivers to stay on the road for longer hours when necessary?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If all the trucks in your fleet have day cabs and you\u2019re thinking of accepting long-haul trips that can take more than a day, then <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/best-peterbilt-sleeper-trucks\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a truck with a sleeper cab<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would be a potential upgrade. But if you\u2019re also trying to cut back on expenses, which would be the better option: buying a used truck or converting one of the day cabs to a sleeper cab?<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 3px solid; padding: 10px; width: 100%; border-radius: 25px; border-color: #F4A70F; color: #007bff;\">\n<strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #007bff;\">What&#8217;s Inside<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#conversion\">Day Cab to Sleeper Cab Conversion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#buying\">Buying A Used Truck<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#conclusion\">In Conclusion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"conversion\"><b>Day Cab to Sleeper Cab Conversion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are shops that specialize in converting sleeper cabs to day cabs to allow owner-operators and fleet managers to get a little more out of a heavily used truck than they would by selling the same truck or auctioning it off. Fortunately, the reverse is also true; there are shops that can help convert a day cab to a sleeper. However, they may not be easy to find.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also a few things to take into account when converting a day cab to a sleeper cab, with space being the most important thing. Some truck models may not have enough space to allow for such a conversion without risking the integrity of the frame; in fact, there are models where converting to a sleeper cab would mean being unable to attach the trailer at the back. Still other models that have just enough space to allow a day cab to be converted to a sleeper cab, but it may turn out to be smaller and a bit less comfortable than any driver would like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The effort involved and overall cost of conversion are two other potential issues. While some shops do sell kits that will let you handle the day cab-to-sleeper conversion yourself, there\u2019s a lot of preparation involved, such as taking the cab measurements and making sure they\u2019re accurate so you be sure the kit you purchase will be the right size. If you bring it to a specalized shop to have the professionals take care of the conversion, the final cost may be more than you were prepared for, including materials and labor.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"buying\"><b>Buying A Used Truck<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the beginning, long-haul truck drivers spent hours on the road and then had to make do in a small sleeper cab that had just enough room for them to sleep, and not always comfortably. Sleeper cab designs have improved since then; not only are they bigger with more space, but they now take the trucker\u2019s comfort into account and make it easier for them to live in said sleepers when on a job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is especially true when you get to trucks with custom extended sleepers; depending on the owner-operator\u2019s budget and their imagination, custom sleepers may look like tiny homes on wheels than your average sleeper cab, though they may share a few design elements like a cabinet door pulls out into a dining table for one, or a dining area that turns into a bedroom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The potential differences across sleeper cabs and the resulting difference in price are why it\u2019s difficult to say with certainty how much a used truck with a sleeper cab will actually cost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new truck with a custom sleeper can cost the original owner up to $300,000, so even if they can\u2019t sell it at that price after it\u2019s been in use for a few years, you may still find yourself shelling out at least half that price.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, a factory conversion would cost at least $150,000, so buying such a truck when it\u2019s used may mean paying a little less than that, depending on how old it is. Much older trucks, however, may cost as little as $8,500; this is a steal compared to $100,000, true, but that\u2019s not counting any costs for maintenance and repair yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"uv-lst\" data-category=\"125\" data-count=\"6\" data-type=\"new\"> <\/div>\n<h2 id=\"conclusion\"><b>In Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the end, what you decide will depend largely on your budget, needs, and when you want to have the truck in hand, so to speak. Either option can take at least a week, including looking for just the right used sleeper truck, or the right shop to handle conversion; converting a day cab to a sleeper may take longer because of the preparation necessary to ensure space requirements are met.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As far as costs go, a conversion may cost a little less than buying a used truck, but you may be limited in what amenities will be included while the used sleeper truck will have just the amenities you need or want.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make a long story short, if you don\u2019t mind waiting and there are certain amenities you can do without because of space or budget constraints, then by all means, have a day cab truck converted to a sleeper. However, if you need the sleeper truck as soon as possible, want to be sure it comes with all the amenities, and you are prepared to shoulder <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/sleeper-cabs-cost\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the cost of a sleeper truck<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, then buying a used truck would be a sound investment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In business, you\u2019ll find yourself needing to trim back on expenses where you can, either because you\u2019ve discovered you\u2019re needlessly spending too much on one thing, or because you need to increase profits. But what do you do if that expense is something necessary for expanding your business, like adding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":3161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[627,949,103],"class_list":["post-3155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-semi-truck","tag-automatic-transmission-semi-trucks","tag-day-cab-conversion","tag-semi-truck"],"modified_by":"Titus Asher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3165,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3155\/revisions\/3165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}