FCC--Fremont Contract Carriers

You can create a LLC to prevent getting sued which is what I might do at a later date for now learning one thing at a time via sole proprietor ein.

 

An LLC won't keep you from being sued. When lawsuits are filed, they usually are filed against the driver and the company...if you're both the driver and the company, you get it either way. The only time an LLC would protect you is if you were a fleet owner with multiple trucks, but didn't drive any of them.

 

I have an LLC, but didn't set it up till I was probably 6-8 months into my lease. Hell I don't think FCC even has my EIN#, as I was a sole proprietor when I started the lease, they just used my SS#, tax guy uses the EIN#, I see no reason you'd need to wait for an EIN# to get started. You basically only need it in your situation to be able to open a business bank account, which is something you could do later. Unless you just want to have everything done before you start.

 

While it's true an LLC won't prevent you from being sued, it does however protect your personal property. If I hit someone and am at fault, they can sue me all they want, but they can't touch my personal property, only property belonging to my LLC..... It's also a nice way to separate things for the IRS in case of an aduit. The EIN# Rokue was talking about is a necessary evil with an LLC, only because you need that to be able to open a business bank account. But the IRS views single member LLC's as pass through entities, so as long as your not in a partnership or corporation or don't have employees, it doesn't matter come tax time if you have the EIN or not. That's why he shouldn't need it to start running.

 

As the driver, your personal property is just as vulnerable as if you are a company driver. Only way your personal property is protected is if you hire a driver, and are running the business and not behind the wheel of the offending vehicle. Just like in that TX lawsuit against Werner where an idiot 4 wheeler was driving too fast on slick roads and crossed over and hit the Werner truck, killing and injuring his passengers(and himself I believe) Werner and the driver were both sued. The jury says the driver owes several million and Werner owes hundreds of millions.

 

I doubt the driver even has a small fraction of that money

 

You're right, they'll never get the majority of money from him, but they can put a lien on any property he owns or on anything of moderate value in his name. And I believe they can garnish his earnings beyond a certain amount. Since he was just starting his trucking career, that'll pretty much screw him for the rest of his life.

 

All of this because some lady trusted a guy who didn’t even have a license to drive, so she decided to sue everyone under the sun. That Werner truck and driver was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. A shame what this country has come to

 

The office says you need a 2290 and to do the 2290 you need a ein I checked several websites they all ask for ein. It might be different if your leasing a truck from fcc I am not sure, but the 2290 is now required also called fhut. I never heard about it I until Mike told me about it. Anyway so much to learn and so much to do.