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Mechanics trucks are mobile shops on wheels. The larger the truck, the better equipped your shop will be.

"I liken it to a house," says Jason Ollerich, vice president, Feterl Mfg. "No matter how big your house is, you always fill it full of stuff. So what it comes down to is figuring out what you really need on a daily basis - the tools you are carrying or the spare parts." Then factor in the load carrying capacity required. "Are you frequently pulling a component and having to transport it somewhere?"

Obviously, larger trucks cost more money. "You have to balance a truck that is large enough to meet the needs and small enough to be affordable," says Tim Worman, product manager for commercial vehicles, Iowa Mold Tooling Co. Inc. (IMT). "To me, it is more important to have a truck that meets your needs. If you don't, your affordability went out the window because your cost of doing business is impacted. Your utilization costs are impacted."

There are many examples where a contractor purchased a truck based purely on price and it didn't work, says Worman. In such cases, he adds, "You better not have high expectations of what you can do with it."

Size matters
Tough decisions are necessary when sizing the vehicle for your operation. "It is really a matter of what do you need every day vs. what would you like to have," says Ollerich. "What is a necessity, what would be nice and what is just kind of a luxury item?"