How Much Do Food Trucks Cost to Rent [ How Much is a Used Food Truck ] Food Truck Permits
I've got some great subscriber questions about renting a food truck, and how much does it cost and what are the things you need to look for? If you're in the market to rent a food truck, instead of actually buying one. And in most cases, it's actually a better deal financially because you're not investing as much upfront and we're going to get into those questions right now. All right. So, as I mentioned back in the introduction, we are going to dive into those three questions from you guys, our subscribers about renting a food truck, and then how much does it cost to do that? A couple of other questions that we've got are if you purchase a used food truck, what is the ballpark figures to get a used food truck? If I'm looking for one that's not new.
And then lastly, how much our food truck permits. So I'm looking down at my list of questions from you guys. So we'll dive into the permit question as well. So before we do, as always welcome to marketing, you put online. If this is your first video, we've got over 800 free videos for you to simply subscribe and start watching, hit the bell notification. And you'll take a look at all of our new videos every single week. If you're a food entrepreneur like myself for the past 12 years, these videos will definitely help you get started in almost any type of food niche that you're looking for. So let's dive right into it. So the first question was how much do food trucks cost to rent? So Damien, why would I want to rent a food truck instead of actually buying one? Well, there's a lot of different variables when you start any type of business.
I know, especially when we started our food business and we opened our Italian bakery where we're located the budget that we had, the financing we had available at the time, all of those things have a tendency to dictate what type of business you're going to get into and how much of a business you're going to start based on the size of your finances and the available credit, if that's what you have, or if you're borrowing money from your family. So renting a food truck is a great alternative because you're not having to dive into such a huge investment. On average, if you've got a brand new food truck nowadays, you're looking at at least 85, $90,000 or more, depending on the size and of course the type of equipment and a couple of few other variables. But for the most part, you're looking at them at at least a minimum of $80,000 to have a well fitted well done truck to get started.
And that's on the low end. So renting a food truck gives you an opportunity to get your no pun intended. Did he get the wheels rolling with your food truck business? Did he start test out your idea? You could rent it for a certain period of time and if your business doesn't go over very well, then you haven't lost everything that you invested in it. You simply return the truck. You've rented it for a six month, eight month or a year period. You gave it a shot and it didn't work. But if it does work, that's going to give you an opportunity to save up money and then even either lease it to own it or rent it to own it. And then from there you're getting, you're not having to invest so much upfront. Now. That's kind of a tricky thing. When you get into renting a food truck and I'm going to go through a few, a few different things that you really need to look for.
So number one, the age of the truck is super important. The tendency to have trucks that are much, much older, may have a tendency to break down, may have a tendency to have mechanical issues, engine problems, and such. So the age, the truck is definitely something you want to look at, okay. The amount of miles that it has on the truck, the engine, the overall engine itself, I personally would recommend before you dive into renting a truck, have the engine looked at by one of your mechanics, by somebody who is on your side or somebody that you know, who can take a look at the engine and making sure that everything is completely set and good to go. The next thing you want to think about is also the terms. So what is the duration of the rental period? Okay. Is it going to really suit your needs or is it something that the person who is going to rent it to you is going to end up having you in for a year, at a time when you don't want to be in at a time that long, or if you want to do six to eight months, if they're flexible enough to do a shorter period rent, that's something that you want to look at as well.
The next up you want to see how much is the deposit. In some cases you will have to put up some type of collateral even to deposit when you sign a contract to rent a food truck. So that is something that are there up to you because you have to look at the budget. How much did you actually have available when you go to sign the rental agreement? And it says that something that you're able to put out a front, because you got to keep in mind too. There may be additional things that you may either have to do to the food truck or things that you may have to take off the food truck. So every fruit truck is not exactly all set up and geared towards the type of food product that you may make. Some food trucks may be loaded with deep fryers because they do a lot of fried chicken and fried foods, but you're doing veggie wraps and you may not necessarily need a fryer.
So there's a lot of equipment and things inside the truck itself that the truck may be perfect for what you need it for, but the equipment inside, it's just not going to work. Now, next up, you want to make sure that you look at the equipment, as I mentioned just now, you want to make sure that the equipment that you have in there is something that's obviously suited for what you need and are they flexible enough? Hey, can I add this on here? Can I bring on an additional piece of equipment? Can I bring on an oven range? Can I bring on something else that I need making sure that it's got the right ventilation for your fryers as well, if that's needed or necessary in the city that you're getting your licensing. So there's a lot of different parameters and things that you need to think about.
Plus you need to ask how flexible is the person who was renting that to you in regards to customizing it and making it your own. Now that brings me to the next base. The next thing, the, the wrap, the food truck wrap, which is obviously the outside, the external part of the food truck. You want to make sure that is obviously something geared towards your business. Now, if it's already got a wrap on it and it's like, you know, John's burrito, burrito, truck, and you're not selling burritos, you need to check to see, are you able to customize the external part of the truck, at least for the duration of the loan? Can I put my own wrap around the truck itself? So everything about the rental agreement is hugely variable. There's a lot of variables, but you want to make sure that you find a truck that's good for you.
Has the owner available to be a little flexible. If you have to bring in some equipment or take it out, how long the duration of the actual rental agreement. And then next up is actually a lease to own. Maybe the person who is actually renting it to you is looking to get rid of it eventually and maybe even sell it. But maybe they can create a lease to own contract where at the end of a rental period or leasing agreement, you have the ability to buy it out and pay the remaining amount that's owed for the truck and maybe even purchase it. So those are also another way, another variable that you want to look at when you start asking the question on how do, how much do food trucks, cost to rent lots of different variables, but finding a truck and then finding someone who can meet your needs.
That's where, you know, when you can meet at the at the medium, that's going to be able to allow you to read that truck for yourself. Now, next up, how much are used food trucks, if you go to buy them. So how much are used food trucks? So this goes back to some of the list of the things I just talked about. When you get into a rental agreement, the one thing about buying a used food truck is you have to make sure that the truck itself is obviously equipped to do what you do. Okay. And again, that takes us back to the equipment question. Is it suited with the equipment that you need also buying a used truck, find out why from the owner, why are they selling it? Is it just because they want to get out from underneath the truck, the business itself, or is there a lot of issues, electrical issues, engine problems with the truck itself.
You want to go through that truck with a fine tooth comb, because you're going to invest quite a bit of money, even on the low end. Even if you find a truck that's 20 grand to 25,000, that's still quite a bit of money to buy a used piece of equipment that you're going to operate a business from and try to make a living from, or even create a profit going to different events. So you want to make sure that the truck itself, the engine has no issues. If it does make sure that you get that fixed to resolve before you actually purchase it, does it have any electrical or wiring problems? Does the equipment that it has on it, if it's perfect for your needs and it looks good, does it function properly now? Just because you're buying a used truck doesn't mean you're going to come up with a lot of different problems, but you definitely want to make sure again, you go through it with a fine tooth comb and any issues that come up either you have them reduce the cost because you're buying a used food truck or you buy it.
And then you make sure that it's either in the contract, they're going to fix it before they release the truck to you. So you wanna make sure that it's completely functional. Also, are there any other issues with permits or licensing or tag issues with the truck itself, making sure that that is also taken care of before you get a used truck. Remember when you get a license and you get a food truck permit that's issued by the city, you want to make sure there's no pending issues or anything outstanding with that as well, that could potentially carry over to the purchase of a used food truck. Okay. So next up we have, how much is a food truck permit? Now, this is a pretty open-ended question. I appreciate John John Carroll asked that yes, this is actually a pretty open-ended question. And the reason why is that every city has a variation or variance based on the amount of money that they're going to charge.
So for instance, if you're in El Paso, Texas, and then you go to Miami, Florida, the amount of those actual permits varies greatly. So I couldn't necessarily give you a dollar amount, but on average, it's anywhere from about a hundred to $300 a year, but it's an annual renewal, a permit that would need to be done for the food truck itself. Okay. So check with the specific city that you're in, something interesting also about the food truck business and the food truck industry is when you go to different counties in different cities, a lot of times you'll need to also apply for a permit to actually operate your mobile food business or your food there as well. So you may end up if you're going to a multitude of different counties or cities where you're going all over the country, you need to double check with the actual city or county that you're going to park in and then conduct your business because they're going to require you to have a permit and, or a license within the city that that's actually operating in.
So do keep that in mind. But on average permits are around a hundred to $300 a year. It shouldn't be more than that. If it is, that's kind of a unique situation, you may want to ask the city why it would be that much, but for the most part, that's about how much they cost. But remember, it's an annual thing. So you want to be on top of all of your licenses and permits as well as your business license as well, which is kind of a separate permit and separate license unto itself. So if that was helpful, do get, give me a big thumbs up. If you guys have any more questions about food trucks and licensing and permits, let me know down in the comment section and I will hop to those questions as soon as I can. I'll see you guys on our next video.
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