Originally Posted by dirttrackking55

I am wondering, what all do the brokers ask for when you call them for a load on the load board the reason why im asking this, I am looking into buying a truck and trailer but i dont have but about 6 months of experience driving. and would hate to not get a load because of it with a truck and trailer payment.

No disrespect BUT you don't have the experience to do this so don't! Go learn to drive someone else's truck and make the mistakes on their truck. Track the expences and then think about it. You're 3-5 years ahead of yourself.

I understand what you are saying but i have been around trucking and i own one truck but it is lease on to a company, so the finances are nothing new to me. but i dont understand the broker side of it.

A lot have a free trial period. 7-30 days. Do you have your own authority or will be leasing to someone? Also a lot of the bigger brokers have their own web based load boards now.

If you are serious about being an Owner Operator with so little experience the first thing you should do is join OOIDA and take the classes they have to offer. Other then that I wish you luck.

This thread is where someone else asked the question "what do I say when I call on a load?" Not exactly what you're asking, but a good rundown of how that call will go.

If you don't already have a carrier agreement in place with them, they will usually qualify you by asking your MC number. With that they can usually figure out the rest (safety, active, time with authority, etc) without asking, but some do anyway.

If they're happy with what they see, and you are able to verbally agree on the load, they will usually fax or email you a carrier setup package that must be completed before they will confirm the load. It will certainly have a carrier agreement, usually some sort of profile sheet (info about your business), and their qualifications, bond, and references. You return the completed pages, along with your authority letter, W9, and references. You will have to get your insurance company to issue them a certificate.

On the insurance certificate, I accelerate the process by emailing a request to my agent as soon as I get the set up package from the broker. By the time I fill that out and return it, they usually already have the certificate from my agent.

All of this assumes you are a carrier with your own authority, and not leased to some other carrier.

ok thanks for the replies.