What is the ultimate objective of Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ETS2) ? For me it is exploring the scenic beauties of continental Europe. But what also is important and certainly very fulfilling : Is creating a self-sufficient company and eventually building a truck empire across the continent. In this tutorial I have collated a step-by-step guide which will facilitate you to do just that. So let’s jump right in.
STEP 1 : Starting the business
The first few (3-5) trucks you buy and the drivers you hire will be quite pivotal to your business. Because in this period you will be primarily dependent on loan money for which you will have to pay regular installments as well. It’s a precarious situation. So timing it right is quite important.
Question 1 : So when should you buy your first truck ? I would recommend you to buy the first truck for your fleet only when the bank allows you to take the €400k loan. NOT the €100k loan. I will explain the reason for that in a little while. Take the loan and buy two Iveco Stralis Active Space trucks for around €94k each. Two trucks for two empty garage spaces that you have. I have a dedicated list in which I have enlisted all the 49 truck dealerships present the base version. Bookmark it! Its quite useful. Anyway, now assuming you have already discovered at least one recruitment agency, you will need to spend another €3k to hire two drivers. Don’t worry much about their initial rating because with proper training they will improve massively anyway. The comprehensive driver training guide is your friend for that. Bookmark it. You will need it later as well!
STEP 2 : Upgrading your garage You will still have around €209k of the loan money left by now after completing the previous step. You can use it in any of the following three different ways :
You can choose to sit on that money and pay loan installments. Good luck with that.
Or you can buy a new garage elsewhere for €180k
Or you can upgrade your existing garage for €100k
I recommend you opt for the third option. I will explain the reason behind that in a little while. If you choose to opt for buying a new garage however, I believe you will find Guide To The Ultimate Cities For Purchasing Garage useful. Anyway. Assuming you have opted to go for the third option, you will then be left with €110k of loan money. At this point buy another Iveco Stralis Active Space truck and hire another driver. This will eventually leave you with around €13k. Plus of course the money you have earned yourself which I chose to not take into account. In a separate tutorial I have explained why the Iveco Stralis Active Space is the truck of my choice for my AI drivers. So, you still have one garage slot empty right ? Leave it that way till we can afford to buy a new vehicle. At this point I recommend you to slow down a little in your venture. Do quick jobs and be focused on training you AI drivers. Refer to the driver training guide which you bookmarked a little earlier. Now, once you have accumulated around €100k in your bank buy your fourth truck and hire a driver. Your garage is full and now is the time to move on to the next step.
STEP 3 : Buying a new garage
Buy your second garage and steadily fill the first three slots with new trucks and drivers. For that purpose I recommend you to take loan if necessary. You already know the best locations to buy garages. Don’t you ? The next step is to upgrade your second garage and buy two new trucks when you have the money to.
STEP 4 : Pay off your debts completely Now that you have a number of trucks at your disposal and drivers driving them around Europe, I recommend you to slow down a bit for the next few days and make paying off your debt completely a priority. Which will be quite easy to do with the money that your drivers are earning. In the mean time your drivers will also increase their ratings and their incomes will increase substantially with it. If you plan to expand further, it will be quite easy after this point on.
Note 1 : I have noticed many of us are reluctant to get the €100k loan since it has a 18% interest rate as opposed to the 12% for the €400k loan.
But since the game has a timescale of 15:1 (15 minutes in the game passes every minute) the effect of the interest rate is very minor.
So I recommend you to take the €100k loan if you need it. However avoid taking the €50k and €10k loan as much possible.
Note 2 : Why should you upgrade your existing garage first before you buy a new one ?
Because a new garage will cost you €180k and will give you 3 driver slots, which necessarily means for each slot you are paying €60k.
But upgrading your existing garage sets you back by €100k and gives you 2 slots, that means €50k per slot.
So your money is being utilized better in upgrading your existing garage first than buying a new one.
Time for you to share your own story :
In the comment section below, share with us how you built your own truck empire. My readers and I would love to know about it. And please do donate us to help continue running this blog.
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