I'm REALLY Confused About Something

and something else, even though with 30 years experience behind me.

when i came back to flatbed , i took 5,000 savings , paid a down payment of 3,400 , leased a truck from lone mtn. and had 1600 left of the 5 grand.

i spent 450 on dyno and dot checks , left me with 1150. leased on with mason dixon, didnt like em went to mercer. i love em . i havent not one dime of my saved money other than the 5 grand , which i have since put back in my savings.

in the 2 and half years since, i have a 20 grand + reserve fund , and replace all 18 tires in sets, new clutch. and all other maintenance.

i wanted to basically see if i could do it again on a shoestring like i did in 1989 when i bought my first truck. a 1976 intl transtar 4070b for 1250 bucks, bought and inframe kit for 600 bucks , 3 rebuilt cummins heads , and the oil and filters for 600 bucks , did the inframe over the weekend under a pecan tree. ran that old girl for 4 and 1/2 years on a 2500 dollar investment . then i upgraded to 1987 freightliner.

when i got thru with the inframe in 89 and leased on to lumber transport out of cochran,ga i had 400 dollars left to my name.

it was like riding bareback on a razor blade, but dang it was fun.


it like this actually if ya have no experience , ya need 20 grand in the bank experience isworth 20 grand

 

In that case I would have him open up the books for you. Have him explain it all and how he is going to go about finding loads for your trucks. I don't want to discourage you if he can actaully make you money but the one question in the back of my head is still, if he was making such good money why would he have not bought two more trucks himself. Its not like he is not wanting to take on any extra work if he will dispatch for you so why isn't he going to expand himself.

$25,000 grand will not be enough to get you started, you likley wont get paid for 6 weeks. Fuel ($5000 x 6+ weeks = $30,000 ) is usually due the next week, chances are your finance payment in a month ($2500+ per truck depending on your loan term you will have trailer costs as well), your first paycheck to your drivers in 2 to 3 weeks ($2000 x 3 pay periods = $6000). That will cost you $40,000+ before I would expect you would receive your first payment. You need to have at least two months operating expenses and that will let you sneak by . Expenses aren't necessarily what will bankrupt a trucker it is the cash flow.

 

My husband was a l/o for one of the mega carriers and if they would have kept the miles on him he would have done better. He cleared maybe around $35-37K it looks like. this is what was put in the bank. The figures look good before expenses are taken out, but are not realistic.

He had a new 2012 International Prostar, it was under warranty, but going to their shop was a slow process, he has been down over 10 days one round, 8 the next, about 7 the next. Most all of this was spent in a motel, his expense of course. He had a student the 1st round who got paid out of his pocket also, luckily he was good and not picky and didn't demand to eat at a restaurant.

Before you leap out and commit to 2 trucks, are you planning on driving one of them yourself then you will just have to worry about not having a salary if you are out of work a week or two.

 

Maybe I missed something along the way but why not start out with one truck and try that??

It's a good thing you are doing your homework in regards and I wish you all the best of luck, things are very tough out there but if you can make things work now things will eventually turn around for the better, they always do just not sure when..

 

15% is a crazy number just to dispatch your trucks, I would think at that cost you could learn it yourself you seem to know what your doing and are on the right track. Than I think I read where your going to use a factoring company too? Add those two together and that makes things even worse case here.. Get rid of those two expenses and you will do fine, or pay yourself to dispatch your own trucks and use a factoring company, I can see that working but not the two. Not today's day..