So you want to "own " your own company

Another important question I forgot to ask, does experience matter to a freight broker? Like I said before I've been driving trucks for a while but only had a CDL for 7 months.

 

drive for a company for a while,learn the ropes,figure up what itll take for you to stay aflote when you do get your own rig.its a big leap getting your own setup,it can make you or brake you.id say drive for a while then look into it.and yes experiance does help.You wont get far o/o or company driver without it.you've had your cdls for 7months but how long you been driveing with them,and for who and was it short or long haul?

 

I would start by looking for insurance. That may limit you right there. With only having your CDL for 7 months I don't think any company will insure you so going out on your own will probably be out of the question.

 

Jeff, your coming out of the blue with this question. Your in the Ask an Owner Operator section, so start reading. I reccomend "So You Want to be an O/O" and if you want a blow by blow account of being an O/O read PharmPhils exploits. This site is an extraordanary wealth of infomation for your request, but all i can say is Start Reading, Kid. And Good Luck to you! With what you can learn here it's a good possibility you can survive "Taking The Leap"

 

If one wanted to do so, would the legal and red tape game be so much a guy would be ready to give up before he gets started?? I guess there would be few if any that would suggest a fresh start into the industry as o/o HUH!! You might say green behind the ears, but really just dont like the idea of bunking with someone who is smelly, rude, and really could'nt care less about you.. But still would like to be in a truck.. Any suggestions to get started?? "PS could a newbie even get freight or do the shippers even care, how bout leasing on, or would it be difficult finding a broker w/no exp.? Thanks

 

Yup! It's ridiculous. I gave up before i started, but several on this forum did not and successfully got their own authority + operated under it.

I love how you have to give yourself a drug test, do a background check on yourself, a road test on yourself, fill out an application, and CONSIDER yourself for employment. What the hell you gonna do, reject your own application? .... I think they got it this way to intentionally discourage us. There's no other reason for things like that.

You're going to end up bankrupt and homeless if you do that. You just cant do it. Besides that, it's a violation of the FMCSR to hire a driver (yourself) who does not know how to drive a truck without any training.

But seriously man. It cant work. How are you going to make money when you have no clue what you are doing? And you're not going to have a clue about the driving aspects from reading on the internet.

Besides that, i have never had to bunk with anyone like you stated. Make sure you start with a company that will allow you to become a solo driver right after training. Forced team driving with strangers is BS, and will lead to exactly what you expect. But being a student was different for me. Your trainer is your boss, you have to respect that and respect him. Companies have standards these trainers are supposed to meet, INCLUDING HYGIENE and ATTITUDE. There are some who slip through the cracks, but you can be taken out of any situation very quickly. It can be arranged for you to be dropped off at a greyhound station and get "delivered" to a terminal to wait for a new trainer (usually doesnt take too long and usually you get paid for waiting).

As far as forced team driving, at one point I was teamed up with a girl who had zero experience outside of training, and i had 2 weeks outside of training. She did not know how to drive. She did not understand basic road safety that you should know to drive a car. She stopped in the middle of an interstate claiming she got stuck in neutral. She went down a 10 mile long 7% grade with curves that should not be taken any faster than 45mph in top gear at 75ish mph, dragging the brakes all the way down. I thought I was going to die. But whenever i would comment on her driving (things like *THAT* need more than a comment!), she would tell me i am not her trainer. However, she would throw a fit about the most ridiculous of made up errors of my driving, like she was my trainer. Then she abandoned the truck and a load at a truckstop, got her ### royally kissed by dispatch, and I was left there with no pay for a week before i was instructed to leave the truck at a truckstop and get a bus at company expense. What the hell?

Besides that, you won't really learn how to drive a truck until you go solo. Until the first time you get to a dock that seems totally impossible, and you realize that it HAS TO BE DONE, and then....45 minutes later, you get it in there! with people making fun of you on the radio the whole time.... oh look at that swift driver backin in hahahahaha...

A team driver when you have no experience is just a crutch...

No, you can't get freight, but the shippers wont care about your experience. It's just very difficult for a new owner operator to get freight. You'll have to broker a lot of freight and a lot of brokers wont deal with you until your authority is 6 months old, and that's because of a scam called double brokering (you set up a fake broker and a fake trucking company, broker the load to the real trucking company, take the pay and dont pay the real trucker/company!). It's very sad but crooks have done a lot of damage to this industry.

Even after the brokers deal with you, they'll lie to you about the rate they're getting paid, they'll pay you less than it costs to operate the truck, tell you that its a great rate and that it's the best they can do. Trust me, *THEY* make money on it. Why shouldnt you? They do have some good paying freight but they can get rid of it with one phone call, so you probably wont get to see it unless you get known by them.

Most shippers dont like to deal with owner operators. See, if they call Werner or Swift, it will get picked up and it will get delivered, when they want it to, no matter what. The mega carriers book loads at high enough rates, without even knowing if they'll have a truck available. If it comes time to pick it up and they can't do it, the big boys own their own brokerages and will get rid of it. I work for werner right now and I've delivered Schneider loads..

You can't do that, and shippers don't like having to deal with multiple trucking companies. It's so much easier just to call Schneider and know that they can do it.

And it costs another arm and a leg to set yourself up a brokerage!


Even if you did do this, did get freight...you don't get paid right away. Having to wait 30+ days for payment from a broker is not uncommon. I'm burning 1000 gallons of diesel a month right now. I sure cant afford to run for a month without pay!

Leasing on? If you can set yourself up with no or very little truck payment and all bills at home dealt with some other way, yes, you could do it, but you need to have *experience* as a driver. However, you have to consider this....why don't these companies just own their own trucks? Because you're cheaper. Think about that for a minute. Anyway, there are companies who will screw you, and there are people who say they are doing really well, even with companies that will screw you. I know for a fact that werner does not pay a good rate to owner operators, if they did i would have already bought a truck to pull for them. But i've met several werner owner operators who are doing well.

But you've heard of a trucker story, right? Some truckers will feed you the biggest line of crap you have ever heard of, and will make it sound true..you can't trust anything you hear.

To be perfectly honest, I have considered working with landstar. I cannot suggest it because I have not done it. They seem to give you a lot of freedom. If i try it, i will have all my ducks in a row so that I do not get burned if I can't make money with them..I live with my parents right now, helps a lot with bills!

 

progressive would

 

if you can honestly drive, like no BS, backing, and right hand turns and it not take you two months to grasp the concept, it's possible.. track down all of the posts from "JasonTheRock" he had driving experience but was out of a truck for a while. When he got back into the seat, it was into his own truck with his own authority. The insurance company didn't except his prior experience so he got treated as a new driver, and he's making it.

 

Only for a limited radius and they don't offer cargo insurance.

 

We were new owner ops 3 years ago and we made it through the worst rates ever. He did not drive for anybody before we started. Sometimes i think the only reason we survived is because we have paid for equipment, get great gas mileage and he is a mechanic. We have never taken cheap freight and we still have had to work really hard. It costs a lot of money to keep up with it; insurance, IFTA, IRS taxes, repairs, registration, 2290 tax. We prefer flatbed but i think van pays more and is easier to get a lane. Best load board is Internet Truckstop or Members Edge. Don't take any loads that are cheap. You would be hurting yourself and the other o/o's. Wait until high paying load pops up or deadhead (yes far if you have to) to get to one. We have sometimes deadheaded 500 miles to avoid cheap freight. After you buy your truck and trailer, you need to get your authority, insurance, registration, pay your 2290, and IFTA decals. Then you can get a load from Internet Truckstop. If it's a good rate, call the broker and they will fax you the setup paperwork for you to fill out (yes you will need laptop, internet, and printer on your truck...use an internet fax service) and then a rate confirmation. You will then need to create invoices for each load you haul and mail it to the broker along with your rate conf. and BOL.

Try to find a shipper to work with directly or a broker who works direct with the shipper at a good rate. This isn't easy when you have only one truck.

Overall, I would say don't attempt to do it as an owner-operator unless you are a really hard worker who doesn't give up and who can handle all of the regulations and paperwork. Honestly I can see why so many people would fail at this..if you're not careful you will slip further and further into debt until you are sunk. Have at least $10,000.00 just sitting there when you start. You never know what could pop up. We did home remodeling before trucking so we were used to really hard work.

There's nothing wrong with used equipment. We have old equipment with many new parts and no breakdowns in 3 years! You just have to be diligent and stay on top of the repairs.

Listen to trucking radio on XM, you will learn a lot about what to do and what not to do with your o/o business. They will tell you what the going rate is so you can be sure to uphold those standards. You also need to find your minimum rate per mile to make sure you never accept a rate less than your operating cost plus paying yourself. We make sure he makes at least $500 a day for his pay on top of operating costs which puts our minimum around $1.40 - $1.50 per mile depending on current fuel prices. You will never have to drive hard or ever break your log book if you are only taking good paying loads.

Things get easier the longer you do it and the more you learn.


....also I would love to find out who the morons are out there taking those dollar per mile loads! That's a quick way to sink your business and screw the rest of us.