The Structure
How $3.1M of Semi Truck Financing Is Structured
One application, two lender partners, twelve titled trucks. No single equipment lender wanted the full $3.1M exposure on one carrier in one week — that is a concentration limit, not a credit judgment. Splitting the order six and six across two lenders that each finance Class 8 trucks every day kept the down payment near 10%, kept the closing on one date, and kept the carrier from writing a check that would have starved the contract it was buying the trucks for.
A single lender wanted 30% down on twelve trucks. Two lenders underwriting six each funded them at 10%
Representative structure
Larger fleets fund the same way when revenue, cash flow, and story qualify.
The Transaction
What the Carrier Was Buying
Bobby Friel
Founder, Basecamp Funding
Every carrier that has won a dedicated contract knows the trap: the contract pays for the trucks, but the trucks have to exist before the contract pays. The gap between those two dates is where the deal is won or lost.
A carrier won a dedicated contract that required twelve new Peterbilt 579s — APUs, telematics, the works — on the road by the contract start date. A traditional lender wanted 30% down, which was $930K the carrier needed for drivers, insurance, and fuel to actually run the contract. Equipment financing structured across two lender partners brought the down payment to roughly 10% and put all twelve trucks on the road in 7 days, before the first load was due. The contract started on schedule.
Underwriting
How Semi Truck Financing for a Fleet Order Actually Works
The trucks secure the loan. A new Class 8 tractor is titled, insured, tracked by telematics, and worth a known number on a secondary market that never stops moving — which is why a carrier can finance $3.1M of iron in a week when it could not borrow a fraction of that unsecured.
The Bank
What a traditional lender underwrites.
The carrier’s balance sheet against a twelve-truck exposure, and it gets nervous. It responds with 30% down — $930K — to protect itself against the concentration. That is exactly the cash the carrier needed for twelve drivers, twelve insurance certificates, and the fuel to run the first month before the contract paid.
This Structure
What equipment financing underwrites.
Twelve specific trucks — make, model, spec, dealer, and delivery date — and a signed dedicated contract that names the revenue those trucks will haul. The collateral is the transaction. The contract is the story. Splitting the order across two lenders removed the concentration, and the down payment dropped to what a Class 8 tractor normally carries.
Why a Dedicated Contract Changes the Underwriting
Search for semi truck financing and most of what you find is built for an owner-operator buying one truck. A fleet order against a dedicated contract is a different credit. The lender is not guessing whether the trucks will have freight — the contract says so, with a start date, a lane, and a rate. That certainty is what supports twelve units at once for a carrier whose balance sheet, on its own, would not have carried them.
Why the Order Was Split Across Two Lenders
No equipment lender wants $3.1M of exposure on one mid-size carrier in one week, and that is a portfolio rule, not an opinion about the operator. Six trucks to one lender and six to another is the same trucks, the same spec, and the same closing date — with each lender holding an exposure it is comfortable with. The carrier saw one application and one funding day. The lenders each saw a normal-sized deal.
Spec Matters More Than Buyers Expect
APUs, telematics, and the full sleeper spec are not just driver comfort — they are resale value, and resale value is what an equipment lender is actually pricing. A well-specced 579 holds its number on the secondary market in a way a base-spec truck does not, which is part of why the down payment stayed near 10% on a $3.1M order. The dealer’s build sheet was part of the credit file.
Speed Was the Product
The contract had a start date. Trucks not on the road by that date are a contract in breach, and a shipper with a dedicated lane does not wait for a carrier to finish its bank process. Seven days was a clean application, twelve months of bank statements, the signed contract, and a dealer with twelve units allocated — run in parallel with two lenders instead of in sequence with one.
What Twelve Trucks Actually Buy
A dedicated contract is the most valuable thing a mid-size carrier can hold: committed freight, predictable lanes, and revenue that does not move with the spot market. Twelve trucks on that contract is a business that can plan a year out, hire drivers with a straight face, and use the contract as the story on the next fleet order — which will finance faster than this one did.
Run the arithmetic your own way: what does the dedicated contract pay per truck per month, and how many months of that would 30% down have consumed before the first load?
For most carriers at this scale, the answer is that the trucks pay for themselves inside the contract term and the down payment was the only thing that could have stopped it. That is a different question than whether one lender is comfortable with twelve units.
The Products
The Products That Funded This Transaction
| Product | Role here |
|---|---|
| Equipment Financing → | Twelve Class 8 tractors, split six and six across two lenders, each truck its own collateral |
Financing this whole sector: Trucking Financing →
The Result
What Changed After Close
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Related
Similar Structures
Representative scenarios — illustrative, anonymized figures, not specific client transactions.
FAQ
Semi Truck Financing for a Fleet Order — Questions, Answered
Can you finance twelve semi trucks at once?
Yes, and the way to do it is usually across more than one lender. No single equipment lender wants $3M of exposure on one mid-size carrier in one week — that is a concentration limit, not a credit judgment. Splitting the order six and six keeps each lender at a normal deal size, keeps the down payment near 10%, and keeps the closing on one date.
Why did a traditional lender want 30% down on the trucks?
Because it was underwriting the carrier’s balance sheet against a twelve-truck exposure and protecting itself against the concentration. An equipment lender underwrites the trucks themselves — titled, insured, tracked, and resaleable — plus the dedicated contract that names the freight. Same trucks, different lender, and the difference was about $620K of down payment.
Does a dedicated contract help with semi truck financing?
It is the single most useful document in the file. A signed dedicated contract tells the lender the trucks have committed freight, on a named lane, at a known rate, from a start date. That certainty is what supports a fleet order for a carrier whose balance sheet alone would not carry it.
How much down do you need to finance semi trucks?
For new, well-specced Class 8 tractors financed as equipment, roughly 10% is common when the carrier’s revenue and deposit history support it. Traditional lenders looking at the carrier rather than the trucks often ask for 25% to 30%, especially on multi-unit orders. On $3.1M, that gap is the cash needed to run the first month of the contract.
Does truck spec affect financing?
More than most buyers expect. APUs, telematics, and a full sleeper spec hold resale value, and resale value is what an equipment lender is actually pricing. A well-specced truck supports a lower down payment than a base-spec unit of the same model. The dealer’s build sheet is part of the credit file.
How fast can a fleet order be financed?
With a clean application, twelve months of bank statements, the signed contract, and a dealer with units allocated, a fleet order can fund in about a week; this one funded in 7 days across two lenders. What slows a fleet deal is a carrier trying to get one lender comfortable with all of it at once.
Can you finance new trucks without a dealer’s captive lender?
Yes, and for a multi-unit order it is usually the better path. A captive finance arm is built for one truck at a time from its own brand and often has its own exposure limits. An independent structure can split a large order across lenders, finance mixed-brand or used units alongside new, and close everything on one date.
