Taking the leap...

I'm seriously considering going O/O and have spent a lot of time gathering all the valuable wisdom and experiences from everyone here. I figured starting my own thread would make sense so I could have a single place to get answers.

I really need to know how much of a loan I'd be needing to ask for and the "actual numbers" (within reason) that I can expect to pay yearly and monthly. My insurance company won't give me a quote until I can tell them what kind of truck I'm going to buy and what kind of trailer (if any) I'm going to have insured by them. I've been looking at the pro's and con's of leasing onto a company and could use some advice in that realm too.

I've been looking at a few trucks in the truck paper and I figure I can probably get a pretty decent starter truck for about $25,000 and a used dry van for around $10k.

I looked at the "so you want to own..." thread and it doesn't give hard numbers that I need and the government websites are vague, so can anyone help me with these numbers? I'll be doing everything out of Indiana.

DOT# & MC#
UCRA
INTERSTATE AUTHORITY
BOBTAIL, LIABILITY & CARGO INS. +ACCIDENTAL INJURY
IFTA (is $25 annually +mile tax really it?)
PLATES
HEAVY HIGHWAY USE TAX

I have 5 years experience making other people money and I really think I could make it on my own. I have contacts with a few shippers that I made friends with while working for other companies and can get freight but I really need some hard numbers to pitch to my skeptical wife.

I appreciate all of your valuable input.

 

Yeah, I'm shooting for at least $15k as a backup...

 

Is DOTauthority.com a good way to get authority or should I just do it myself?

 

Thanks for all your answers. How does a driver who doesn't have employees implement a Alcohol & Drug Testing Program? As for the establishing of "preventative maintenance & inspection procedures" I assume that just means I need to keep records of vehicle inspections every 6 months, right?