Starting a Trucking Business in Nebraska, advice needed!

Grumpppy beat me to it, been doing business stuff all day long so I haven't been here.

All of the other crap you posted, this should have been the first thing.

$12K gets you tires and an oil change.

Try $120k.

So I am here to bring reality to this.

If you are willing to risk your family, go for it.

You daddy should have taught you about the word Liability.

This is an industry of liabilities.

So you get a truck, you have a "CDL" driver (whatever that is), and he gets out on the road, the junk that you buy isn't fixed as it should be so he tries to stop and he runs into a car load of kids, and killing one kid or putting them in wheelchairs.

Do you think you will have insurance cover this?

Think about what you will lose, the house, the cars, your wife, not to mention you will be in deep debt for maybe the rest of your life because you didn't do the right thing and put the money into the truck.

Even though the thing passes a "DOT inspection," an ambulance-chasing lawyer will have the court tell you that the plaintiff will need all your records and can easily convince the judge to attach your personal property to the discovery motion to determine whether the $20m claim can be paid.

So ... you will create an LLC and this will protect you?

NFW, it is just one more step that the plaintiff's lawyer will pierce, thanks to the court.

This is reality. it happens a lot more than people think.

Here, we have law firms who advertise how much money they get out of truck accidents. I had a driver get into an accident with another truck; there were 5 ****** ****** lawyers at the hospital soliciting my driver to see if he would want to sue. I arrived when two of them were in the room, and I had to explain to them he was already represented.

If you want to join the wonderful world of Owner Operators as an arm chair owner, go for it, but bring deep pockets and a willingness to do more than just sign checks.


OH, one last thing, your wife will not have time to be a mom and a dispatcher, you get a driver who can't think for themselves or have a problem with picking up or delivering a load, or an. accident (which burns hours), she won't have time for the kids. She has to make a choice, either the kids or the truck, one reason why my wife never had a thing to do with the business.

 

I think most everybody has spelled out the challenges correctly, and none of them/us are trying to be mean, but entering trucking as an owner - but not operator (driver), on an extremely meager budget, has almost zero chance of even breaking even let alone making any money on top. The only way this works is for someone that has a passion for trucking and the will to make it work even when it shouldn't, who is going to drive himself and spend most of his home time working on the truck. Maybe such a person will come out on top after years worth of diligence.

You honestly would be far better off putting that 12K toward something else with much less risk.

 

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I know of one person who had a truck and a driver on it. She was a widow, it was her late husband's truck and business. She still had to work full time to support herself. Not to mention the driver was pretty good at tearing up equipment as well.

 

Take that 12K and flush 1K a month, then have the wife kick you in the nads. Do that for the next 12 months. At the end of the year you will be better off then what you are planning.

 

are you missing a 0 on your savings? 12k will probably get you a deposit on insurance

 

Well you can see what the consensus is.

If you're going to go into this business now or later, you need to run whatever truck you buy yourself. That's the way these businesses are started.

Just to give you an idea on profit, the general rule of thumb is that you need at least three trucks to make what you would make running your own truck. I think it's at least four to be honest with you, especially if you are running the load boards.

And also to let you know, it's very common for someone to buy a truck in this business, and as soon as they bring it home put $10,000 into it without blinking an eye. Maybe 20.

This can be a really really rough business if you don't at least start out running a truck yourself, and you're not doing at least some of your own repairs.

 

For the love of god don't do it. I'm an owner operator here in Nebraska and things are worst than they've ever been. I started out with 15k back in 2015 and it was a shoestring budget to start on even back then when a dollar was worth twice what it is now. With me driving the truck myself as hard as i could I barely made it. Even cattle hauling rates are hitting the ####ter out here this year and all the places that usually have too much work have too many trucks now. The only reason they still give me loads is because I do a good job and I've been at it for a long time and have some relationships in place as a result. Starving out of staters and big companies that are struggling to survive have been throwing trucks into our market and creating a surplus of trucks like I've never seen before. I've got a paid off truck and enough cash to rebuild my engine three times over and I still don't feel like I'm standing on solid ground right now.

The only way I'd recommend you to do it is driving yourself with a paid off old truck you fixed up before taking out, but with a family to take care of I wouldn't even recommend you do that. Just stay out of this business.

 

Why don't you get a big paying union job with a company like UPS with full benefits for the family and a big lifetime pension plan and health insurance for life?