Sell your semi truck for cash in Shafter the easy and convenient way

In 2023 the Census Bureau’s LEHD job counts put 4,755 of Shafter’s 13,237 jobs in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and 4,268 in transportation and warehousing. If your truck splits its year between harvest loads and warehouse runs, tell us both jobs when you write in, along with the trailer it usually pulls.

Wholesale trade accounts for another 1,267 jobs in town, by the same LEHD figures from the Census Bureau. A box truck or day cab that has worked out of a wholesale yard here is likely parked at that yard; give us the street address and the name of whoever can open the gate on the day we come.

County Business Patterns, from the Census Bureau, lists 8 warehousing establishments and 17 construction establishments in Shafter. For a truck kept at one of those sites, a photo of the VIN plate and the door sticker saves a second round of questions.

USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture counts 1,691 farms in Kern County and names milk, cattle and cotton as its top commodities. Trucks tied to dairies and feedlots often sit on the farm itself, so a pin on a map or the ranch road name helps us find yours.

Grain, feed and hay is the listed cargo for 43 Shafter carriers on FMCSA’s census, with farm supplies named by 49 of them. If your tractor hauls hay or feed to Kern County dairies, keep the title and current registration together with the keys; those two documents are what the sale turns on.

Fresh produce appears on the cargo lists of 63 local carriers in that same FMCSA census. Reefer units and the tractors pulling them are both trucks we buy, and listing the trailer make and the reefer unit model in your first message tells us what we are collecting.

The North American Rail Network, kept by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, places Famoso Yard 8.2 miles north of Shafter and Seguro Yard 11.7 miles to the east. A day cab parked near either yard can stay there; we collect from the lot, so send the yard entrance you use.

South-east of town, the Energy Information Administration lists two petroleum product terminals at Bakersfield, at 9.8 and 10 miles out. If your truck has hauled fuel from those racks, photograph any tank inspection certificates you hold next to shots of the cab and the frame.

Tricor Refining, a liquid bulk terminal 10.4 miles south-east, appears in Bureau of Transportation Statistics listings. Tankers that have loaded there and are now parked in Shafter, Bakersfield or anywhere between can be sold from where they stand; the address and a phone contact are all we need to plan the visit.

FMCSA’s carrier census lists 454 active carriers based in Shafter: 360 operate intrastate only, 94 cross state lines and 68 run private fleets hauling their own goods. A California-only carrier selling a truck should have the California title in hand, or know it is at the lender, before we talk.

Federal carrier census records show 260 Shafter carriers hauling general freight, and the three largest fleets in town run 134, 78 and 75 power units. Whether you are selling one tractor or several from a fleet that size, a list of VINs with the registration for each keeps every truck straight.

Of the drivers registered by local carriers, 614 work within 100 miles and 747 go farther, according to FMCSA’s carrier census. If your truck is out on a long run when you decide to sell, tell us where it will end the trip and we can arrange collection there instead of in Shafter.

Across 388 Shafter trucks stopped between August 2024 and August 2026, FMCSA roadside inspection records give a median model year of 2017, and 38.9 percent were built ten or more model years earlier. Whatever year your Shafter truck left the factory, the first message to us carries the same three things: year, make and model, with a few photos.

Shafter’s median truck covers 50,000 miles a year, going by the 133 local carriers that report mileage to FMCSA’s carrier census. Read the odometer and include it with your photos, so the figure we work from is the one on your dash.

New registrations continue, with FMCSA’s census showing 26 new Shafter carriers in 2024 and 25 in 2025. If you started up recently and the title still shows a lienholder, ask the lender for a payoff letter; we can work the sale around it.

A lost title for a Shafter truck is replaced through California’s title agency. Put that request in before we set a collection day, so the signed title is ready when we arrive.

Bring the registration card, any lien release and a photo ID for the person named on the title. If the truck is registered to a farm or a company rather than to you, include a letter from that business authorising the sale.

• My hay truck is parked out on a Kern County dairy. Does it have to come off the dairy before you collect it?Kern County holds 1,691 farms on USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, and trucks on them are collected where they are parked. Send the ranch road or a map pin and the name of whoever will be on site.
• The tractor sits near Famoso Yard. Is Famoso Yard a place you collect from?Famoso Yard lies 8.2 miles north of Shafter on the North American Rail Network, and a truck parked by it is collected from that spot. Name the lot where it stands near Famoso and someone who can let us in.
• I run one of Shafter’s intrastate-only operations. Which documents does the sale call for?Shafter has 360 intrastate-only carriers on FMCSA’s carrier census, and for any of them the sale turns on the California title and current registration. If the title is lost, request a replacement from California’s title agency first.
• Do you buy reefer tractors that haul Kern County produce?Sixty-three Shafter carriers list fresh produce on FMCSA’s carrier census, and their tractors and reefer trailers are trucks we buy at any model year. Send the year, make, model and odometer reading to start.