Going O/O: Which Truck to Buy?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by csmith1281, May 29, 2017.

  1. csmith1281

    csmith1281 Medium Load Member

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    THANK YOU! This gives me a lot of really concrete ideas about how to prepare and considerations about what I would be risking if I went out on my own before I had the experience. I'm a very engineering-minded person so I can accept an answer but I have to know why first most of the time. As a former independent contractor in the construction field, I know all about how the boss wanted me to take all the risk and get none of the reward. Sounds like that's why these companies have these FLEECE PURCHASE deals where the O/O pays for the truck and they don't give a care whether the driver profits or not. They get their loads serviced and they make profit off the lease payments. If the truck doesn't make money they're not involved in that part of it. Win win for them. Little guy takes all the risk.
     
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  3. csmith1281

    csmith1281 Medium Load Member

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    Dude, I just came from that situation in the construction field. I could have made it there, but I went out on my own without enough cash and relationships. I was working for peanuts and shouldering other people's risk. That's the same situation I'd be facing here, and I'm starting to see that. Thank you for telling it like it is.
     
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  4. Diesel Dave

    Diesel Dave Last Few of the OUTLAWS

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    Wow, a response from someone with common sense and level headed. But don't forget to buy the overalls still cause you will be under the equipment in time.;)
     
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  5. Gypsy-soul

    Gypsy-soul Bobtail Member

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    I been in your shoes. Trust me. My grandfather drove and owned his own company just like my father and now me and my brother. Look it's fine and dandy you want to jump out there and make it work. You probably can, but I have over 10 plus years experience. Have more passed on knowledge than most guys could dream getting in this business and you just don't get it. All I'm saying is do some homework. Research. Drive in the snow first. Heck with one month under your tail you couldn't possibly have driven more than 7 states. I'm no super trucker but I have been literally to each 48 state and canda/nova Scotia. What are you going to haul. Dry van? Every foreigner and his momma and McDonald's cook is now in it and guess what the rates are garbage. I grew up not hauling anything under 4.50 a miles. Then we went to 3.50 just to survive then it went to so much crap your basically working for everyone else. Look you seem educated. But book smarts and construction are 2 different things from operating your own rig and surviving. If you got so much money saved up you can blow it and lose it all like playing the stock market and then walk away and have a sip of bourbon and forget it never happened that's fine. All I'm saying is coming from someone who was green and still is everyday. I don't get complacent. I know my limits. I make what I can and go home to my wife and kids. It's a tough life buddy. Look everyone is gonna tell you no on here cause honestly you just got in this which is true. Not trying to kill your dream. It must may be wiser to sit back. Enjoy getting a pay check and learning on someone else's dime. Unless your filthy rich and don't have kids or a wife go ahead. U can probably make it work but get u a really good warranty. Your gonna need it if you don't know your way around a truck putting it in the shop each week with an epa crap truck hauling 1.10 miles or best load or less than that and trying to pay all the overhead and upkeep.
     
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  6. csmith1281

    csmith1281 Medium Load Member

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    GA AL MS SC NC VA WV KY TN IL OH PA RI MA NY NJ CT WI MO OK TX AR IN...A couple more than 7, but certainly not 48 plus The Queen's territory.

    Right now I'm hauling refrigerated freight. There's dry van, reefer, flatbed, tankers, hazmat, hoppers, and heavy haul. What else? What can I haul where the rates aren't garbage?
     
  7. Gypsy-soul

    Gypsy-soul Bobtail Member

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    So all you know right this second is 1 month reefer right? Dry van fits in a reefer trailer so your good there with swift. How much flatbed, tanker, hopper, and heavy haul have you got under your belt?
     
  8. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    I've got to say a couple things.

    First is the attrition rate for people being owner operators at your level of experience is about 99%.

    The longer you are on the road, the lower that number gets but it never has been less that 75%.

    Second this is not like construction other than you may get a 1099 at the end of the year. Learn the business on what you are doing, it is a large industry, and takes years to learn the different segments of it.

    And finally stop using the term fleece purchase, those who use it and never took part in a program of lease purchase program seems to me that they don't get they listen to the failures but not the successes. If it was such a failure, then why do they continue to exist. And what I find disturbing, people will lease a car or pickup where you get zero value out of it, but then complains about a truck lease. Don't fall into the trap in thinking like others.
     
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  9. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    Because, to those who OFFER such programs, they are quite successful and profitable. Push most of the responsibility for operating your truck onto someone else and still get your cut of the freight they move. They make your truck payment for you despite the fact that they may or may not actually be making enough to pay themselves. And when they fail? You take your truck back and lease it to the next sucker. You haven't lost anything in the process, but were able to profitably (for you, anyway) move your freight cheaply for your customers without having to worry about paying the drivers to move it.
    I don't lease cars, furniture, or appliances either. Places like Rent-One, Aarons, etc. offer the same sort of fleece deals, where you can "rent to own" various things for your home...paying 3x retail for that "no credit check low monthly payment". It is ALL a scam, targeted at the same sort of crowd focused on immediate gratification with the "I want that NOW and will do ANYTHING to get it" mentality. They don't want to put in the effort, they just want to feel the satisfaction of the end result that they seek...whether it is a house full of stuff, a brand new car, or the idea of owning their own truck. It is a free market, and as long as there is a steady stream of individuals looking for that "easy" path to the things they desire, there will be those making a profit from offering people that which they seek....for a price. That price never really works out for the sucker, who even if "successful", winds up with wore out equipment they paid too much for.
     
  10. DirtyBob

    DirtyBob Road Train Member

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    Another reason to get at least a couple of years experience first is so you can actually contract on to a good company. Many companies still require experience even if you're an O/O.

    And you don't have to become a mechanic to be an O/O. I don't even grease my own truck usually, I pay my local shop I park at to do it. I made the decision early on that I already had a full time job and I didn't need a second. I know a lot of guys enjoy it and more power to them. It's work to me and I'd rather spend that time with my family since my job doesn't afford me a lot of time in the first place.
     
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  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    I get it, but where are the successes?

    I heard of a bunch outside of the propaganda/advertisements but not much here.

    I disagree that it is a push onto the owner the responsibility as being the bad thing here, that's how owners have to operate, it isn't that you are a driver any more, you have more skin in the game.

    AND I got to be honest with you, one of the things I keep telling people to do is get legal advice before signing anything, not to go into things blindly, and weigh them out carefully, because as I've said before this isn't about the money you make.

    I have a few copies of least purchase agreements from different companies and only one of them is worth the paper it is written on, but I heard that this company is mean and don't care (I won't mention the companies). I also know that the person who handed me a copy has done the lease purchase successfully and has now several trucks on his own, he couldn't do it without the program. He pointed out the biggest failure is not knowing what's in the contract FIRST and FOREMOST but the second failure is to plan this out as a business, knowing the company is going to hold back X amount, they are going to take payments out of the settlements and so on.

    Crap Bulldog, the second L/P contract I got came from a guy who failed because he didn't realize how much they would take out, but in the contract it was all there, he needed X and got X-maintenance and failed because he got frustrated.

    A third point is the latitude with loads, many of these programs I agree trap the owner into their freight but if there isn't any of their freight, then they are stuck. Another reason why someone considering it needs to get legal advice to know what's in that contract and if it has a clause to allow finding your own work.
     
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