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Question on this list of insurance rates

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by crocky, Aug 19, 2019.

Page 4 of 6
  1. Aug 21, 2019 #31
    FAST123

    FAST123 Light Load Member

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    Jun 13, 2012
    Easton,PA
    0
    $250 a week goes to insurance alone for the carrier charging 20%. Most companies who charge 20% are paying the insurances, IFTA, factoring, fuel cards, safety management etc. Most of those companies have self dispatch programs as well. Let alone they take the risk of bringing an O/O under their MC# which again cost money. On top of that they have to pay 20-25% down payment every year on the insurance policy to renew. They also block cash for fuel cards with discounts avail that can really make a difference. I can post a breakdown of our % (we charge 20-25% to our O/O) if interested. When you really look at it your giving up $300-400 per week to a carrier who assumes all the liability. The only insurance that should be charged at a 20% deal is Bobtail and Occupational Accident (which is the law in most states).
     
    FAST123, Aug 21, 2019
    FAST123, Aug 21, 2019
    #31
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  3. Aug 21, 2019 #32
    starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

    6,639
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    Apr 11, 2019
    Fairbanks Ak
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    I always had my own authority. I got it right off he bat because at the time I needed to haul our own product a lot of the time, freight was secondary.
    It was a huge learning curve to deal with, but I had a prety good education on it by the time I was finished with our product and liked it. I still always figured I could have gone with a good carrier and the money would have been close to the same, possibly even better, but I would have lost some much enjoyed freedom.
    The way I figure it it is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other. I I had to go back south, I would probably lease on instead of reinstating my authority.

    I should say that all goes out the window, if you want to add trucks and oo's which I did for a few years.
     
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    #32
  4. Aug 21, 2019 #33
    crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Jun 28, 2017
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    Look there are some people who will benefit from having someone else run their business for them at 20% but I'm not one of those people. The simple fact is when you lease on to a company you are putting them in charge of your business.

    1st off.. you are saying $250/week for insurance.. That's $13k a year.. I already have a quote for my own policy for $8,5k/year.. Hell even if I keep the business in FL my quote was $12k..

    Then I still need to pay your guys 20% of my revenue.. That's just stupid.. Factoring, I can get for my self.. IFTA.. I don't even have to deal with IFTA right now because I'm starting with a under 26k lbs set up. When I upgrade trucks I can pay the "keep trucking" elog service a extra $10/month to track my IFTA or use other tracking software.

    Also the carrier is not assuming all the liability.. If I have a cargo claim I still have to pay the delectable,. a wreck I still have to pay the deductible and yes I can still also be sued and it also goes against my license..

    On top of this it's not just about money.. it's about ME running my business how I see fit and not having to pay someone 20% of my revenue "and" have to answer to them and depend on them for my income..

    You can sugar coat it all you want but the basic fact is, if you lease on to someone else's authority you are giving them control of your business. I don't want a dispatcher that has 50-100 trucks to put loads on and spends 15 mins looking for the easiest load he can find for my truck then leaving 10ft of deck space open that I could make another $500 with..

    Running a hot shot is a partial game.. you don't go out there and find any load that will fit on the deck for 800 miles and call it a day.. You play tetris and you piece together multiple loads and that's how you make $3/mile with a pick up truck vs $1.50 running a single load. You have to have a guy who understands the hotshot game and understands how LTL loads work.. Not just some random guy who dispatches semi's all day and is used to running a single load on a trailer.. Very few dispatchers are going to do that kinda work for you. This is why must successful hot shot guys self dispatch or they find a very good dispatcher that knows the game and hire them.. It's not like running a 48ft flat deck it's a hustlers game.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2019
    crocky, Aug 21, 2019
    crocky, Aug 21, 2019
    #33
  5. Aug 21, 2019 #34
    starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

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    Apr 11, 2019
    Fairbanks Ak
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    My wife and another lady I had in the office did my, our dispatching and they did grab us partials all the time to go on even when we had a full load we would often have some deck space. This wa if time allowed.
    They also dispatched a few that was not affiliated with our company, and the partial game was what brought one to them, kind of on accident.
    he had a power only flatbed he could load, and one of my owner operators told him to call us and see if she could find him something to load, she fond a partial and he grabbed it since he was getting paid for the trailer, by the time he was loaded she had him another one.
    he wound up going across the country loading, unloading and loading again. It wound up being he best paying run he had ever done he claimed. lol

    A lot of the time when I unloaded in the north west or on my way back from Alaska I would start out in the Seattle area with a couple of partials and start working my way loading and unloading, until I ran out of real estate on the east side. lol Full loads often were just too cheap out of the north west.
     
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    #34
  7. Aug 21, 2019 #35
    crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Yeah, I used to actually ship partial loads or LTL shipments for a company which is why I know that game and I understand the methods. It's why I'm running a hotshot truck and not a semi, because yeah you can do it with a semi, but not as efficiently. Added to this I can just toss a car on the back of a hotshot flat deck if I can't find enough partials.

    The problem is a dispatcher can 't look at your trailer and see what space you have to figure out if you can fit another load much less most wont put that kind of effort into a single truck when they have 50 to 100 trucks they need to dispatch for as well..
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2019
    crocky, Aug 21, 2019
    crocky, Aug 21, 2019
    #35
  8. Aug 21, 2019 #36
    starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

    6,639
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    Apr 11, 2019
    Fairbanks Ak
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    I understand what you are getting out, for what you want to do, if you did lease out you would have to lease to someone that lets you self dispatch . I would get my own numbers, myself, if Insurance is doable. I did haul cars at times, but I pulled a stepdeck instead of a flat. I actually had a light duty step deck too that was made for cars and trailers, I did not pull it a lot and finally traded it off last year.
     
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    starmac, Aug 21, 2019
    #36
  9. Aug 23, 2019 #37
    johnnyman1099

    johnnyman1099 Medium Load Member

    362
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    Mar 13, 2017
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    A friend of mine only had his CDL less than 5 months and just got his Authority this month. He got a 2014 Kenworth T680 and 2019 GreatDane dryvan. Lives in North Carolina and bought an insurance through Progressive Insurance for $1700/month for 11 months payment a year. Unlimited miles, 100k cargo, 1 million liability. I think this is a great insurance rates for being such a new driver. NC must be a cheap insurance state.
     
    johnnyman1099, Aug 23, 2019
    johnnyman1099, Aug 23, 2019
    #37
  10. Aug 23, 2019 #38
    johnnyman1099

    johnnyman1099 Medium Load Member

    362
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    Mar 13, 2017
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    I am thinking about leasing on with a small Car hauling company in Tennessee. They also have Progressive and claims that adding me to their policy will cost $22,000/year. That only covers 1 million liability, 250k cargo and does not cover physical damage and bobtail/unladen insurance. I then called OOIDA and got a quote for bobtail/unladen and physical damage for my 2016 kenworth T680, and 2010 Cotrell high mount trailer. OOIDA quoted me $525/month for physical damage and bobtail insurance. Thats high. My truck will be insured for $77K, and trailer $50k.

    I have been driving CDL over 14 years and have no tickets or accidents on my 10 year DMV reports.

    I think these insurance rates are overly high. When I had my own authority 3 years ago in North Carolina, I was insured with Progressive hauling cars, 250k policy, 1 million liability, full physical and collision coverage for truck and trailer, unlimited mile radius. My rates was around $12,000/year.
     
    johnnyman1099, Aug 23, 2019
    johnnyman1099, Aug 23, 2019
    #38
  11. Aug 23, 2019 #39
    crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    $1,700 a month for the standard 11 months is $18,700 "but" you don't get to make payments on insurance if you don't put a down payment. For a policy costing that much I can pretty much guarantee you he had to put about $3k down.. Meaning he's now at somewhere close to $22k/year so not really any cheaper than what most FL guys are paying..
     
    crocky, Aug 23, 2019
    crocky, Aug 23, 2019
    #39
  12. Aug 23, 2019 #40
    crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Jun 28, 2017
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    One of the reasons I'm doing my own #'s is because I can get cheaper insurance on a new MC than what half of these companies would charge me to be on their policy. Example.. why would a driver such as my self lease on to a company as your example if they are going to take 20% off the top and change me $22k/year for insurance because they have a crappy MC number with issues?

    I can get my own authority.. and pay $12k for insurance and keep my 20% to pay for my other expenses..

    For the record.. after running around in circles for the last week trying to sort out my LLC issue being in MO.. I've opted to set up my LLC in FL as a foreign entity and pull my DOT in FL.. I can then domesticate my LLC in FL and close out the one in MO if I choose to.

    Missouri will not let me transfer "my" LLC to FL. They say I have to close it in MO and open a new one in FL.. I have 2 years worth of business credit and income history on that LLC so I don't want to close it..

    My other option was to rent a office in MO pull my numbers there but then I'd have to rent a office and pay state taxes.. Cheapest office I could find that met what was required was $200/mth so $2,4k /year.

    The savings on insurance between FL & MO for me was about $4k.. just too much hassle to worry about trying to save $1,6k which I'd probably spend in fuel over the year running out there to do stupid #### they require..

    So today I registered my MO LLC as a foreign entity in FL and that should be good to go by Mon or Tue and after that I start getting my MC/DOT stuff. Good news is the company I used for my registered agent also does the BOC-3 so I can knock out multiple things at one place..
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2019
    crocky, Aug 23, 2019
    crocky, Aug 23, 2019
    #40
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