Looking to buy my own truck. How much do I charge per mile to haul.

Study the OOIDA.com website.

 

Put 1 year OTR as a company man then reevaluate your plan.

 

Don't ever go below $3.00 per mile.

 

Really ? So if he delivers a load 30 miles away plus the loading and unloading time that will be $90.00,......but how many can he do is probably what your thinking. Not trying to be sarcastic, but its more complicated then being said. Locally, Line haul, Bulk, Flats, Vans all have different rate structures. You saying $3.00 a mile reminded me of the over dramatic show, "Shipping Wars", They start a $3.00 and end up about 1/2 that.

 

How long does it take to go broke with a truck? See an ad about trucking school and they tell you that in 8 weeks, you can be making $100k. So they get online and see all the crying that the bottom feeders do. So they look at truck prices, and see cheap trucks and think, "Hey! I can go that route! I can make lots of money and not have anyone tell me what to do! I wonder how much I should charge...."

How long does it take to go broke? Say you start off with $100 grand, how long would it take to go through 100g if you have no idea what you're doing? Listen to people online and they have you buy the wrong truck for $50k. Salesman does the old bait and switch, and you get a truck that's a model down from what you wanted. A week later, some mechanic gets you for $20k. Then you're sitting around in truckstops playing phone tags with brokers, who know instantly that they can pork you for cheap. How long does it take to blow through $100grand?

ANSWER: About 1/4 the time it takes to figure out how to make money.

Most people are in the industry just long enough to keep the freight rates low.

 

Really?

You really didn't see my response as being sarcastic?


I really thought it would get some LOL's, if nothing else.

 

......there you go.......

 

You probably should learn how to drive a truck before you attempt to learn how to buy one and operate it in a profitable manner. Good luck with that whole thing.

 

Every trucking type is different, not to mention the length of hauls and if it's specialized or dedicated meaning it may be loaded out, and empty back, repeat. Lumpers charges? Tolls roads? Special permits or placards required? Buy a subscription to a load board for a few months to get a sense of broker rates, and know that direct rates will typically be 10-20% higher if you had the reputation to secure it yourself. But better yet, put the aspirations to run your own truck & authority aside, and save yourself the risks and headaches and frustrations. I doubt the success rate for [true] 1 truck independents, to get past the first 9 months, is over 25% if I had to guess. It's a tough business that will chew you up and spit you out and never apologize if you don't know what you're doing and what to expect and how to counter serious problems with significant cash/profit implications, that will roll in regularly.