We buy trucks in Waukesha

One crushed-stone registration sits under this city, carrying 25 employees on the MSHA register and 5.62 miles from the centroid — well out into the county rather than on the edge of town. Within 10 miles the National Bridge Inventory records 190 structures, and not one is coded posted for load or below legal loads.

That is consistent with the tier structure here rather than lucky. Waukesha County posts none of the 66 bridges it maintains and its towns none of their 18, which is unusual in a state where the towns hold 234 of the 359 structures coded below legal loads and post 6.8 per cent of what they maintain.

That clean circle sits oddly beside its neighbours, and the difference is instructive. Other quarry registrations in this county each meet five structures coded below legal loads inside 10 miles of their own gates in the same National Bridge Inventory file, and all of them bind on one interstate carriageway rated 31.0 metric tonnes. This one meets none at all.

Same county, same tier structure, same absence of county and town postings — and a completely different answer, because a ten-mile circle drawn from a different point picks up a different set of bridges. It is a reminder that these figures are properties of a location rather than of a place, and that a page reporting the county figure alone would be reporting the wrong thing.

What none of those circles can record is the limit set on the road itself. Wis. Stat. § 348.16 provides that on a class B highway no person may operate a vehicle imposing weight exceeding 60 percent of the weights authorised in s. 348.15 (3), and § 349.15(2) puts the designation with the county highway committee for the county trunk system and with the local authorities for the roads they maintain.

Run the arithmetic and it is not a small adjustment: 11,000 lb on one wheel becomes 6,600, a 20,000 lb axle becomes 12,000, and a 34,000 lb tandem becomes 20,400. Item 70 of the national bridge file records a structural rating of a bridge. A class B designation is a legal limit on the road itself, so the file cannot hold it, and a clean bridge count says less than it appears to. No statewide register of class B roads was found and we are not going to assert how many there are.

Wis. Stat. §§ 348.15(3), 348.16 and 349.15(2). Information, not legal advice.

None of that reaches the paperwork, which is the short part. That is the rule, and everything after it is a fix rather than a category. A lost title has a counter replacement. Where none exists there is a bonded route. Neither one stops a sale.

One thing this state does not have is a step you might be bracing for. It runs a vehicle emission inspection and maintenance programme in seven south-eastern counties, and that programme cannot reach a truck of this kind at either end. A diesel vehicle of model year 2006 or earlier is exempt by its year. A vehicle of model year 2007 or later with a gross vehicle weight rating above 14,000 lb is exempt by its weight. There is no gap between the two limbs, so there is no emissions step standing between a working truck and a sale anywhere in this state.

Wisconsin Legislative Council issue brief on vehicle emission testing, with the title rules from the Wisconsin DMV. Information, not legal advice.

None of that changes what we are interested in. Dump trucks and aggregate haulers off the stone 5.62 miles out. Flatbeds and box trucks out of the trades. Road tractors and day cabs on the runs across Waukesha County. Work trucks and pickups off crews. Whatever you drive, the offer does not change. We buy all of them.

We come to you and drive it away, we come to you and tow it, or we buy it remotely and arrange the tow with nobody visiting at all. All of those are ordinary in a place this size, and bringing it to us is an option too if that suits your week.

• Does it have to run?No. It does have to be complete — if the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Rust is not a disqualifier.
• How am I paid?Cash or electronic payment. That is the whole list.
• Is there a bridge that will stop the tow?Not inside 10 miles of this pit — 190 structures and nothing posted or coded below legal loads. Other pits in Waukesha County meet five apiece, so it depends entirely where you are starting from.
• Is there an emissions test to pass first?No. The programme covers seven south-eastern counties and cannot reach a truck like this in any of them — exempt by year if it is 2006 or older diesel, exempt by weight above 14,000 lb GVWR if it is newer.
• Do I have to bring it to you?No. We come to you and drive it away, we come to you and tow it, or we buy it remotely and arrange the tow with nobody visiting at all.
• What about the title?We need one unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. A lost title has a counter replacement; where none exists there is a bonded route.

None of those is really the reason for the call. Retiring. A medical that went the wrong way. A contract that ended and never got replaced. A tandem dump standing on a yard 5.62 miles out from the middle of town, inside the clear 10 miles, insured every month and not turning a wheel since the last job.

Most of those aren’t happy reasons, and we don’t treat them like they are. Somebody wants a straight answer and the truck gone by the end of the week. That’s what we’re here for.