Company Driver to IC

johnnyboggs · Mar 8, 2020

ncdriver1 said: ↑

It's been my goal since the first day of CDL school that I would own and operate a truck. After 3 years of driving a company truck I have found and purchased my first truck.
Today officially begins my transition from company to IC. For anyone thinking of doing the same just know that you will have to re-apply and do the physical etc as if you were a new employee.

Originally, my plan was to buy a brand new truck and I had specced out a WS 5700xe. Unfortunately the cost was just too much and I opted instead to find a much less expensive used truck. I found a very well running 2004 WS 4900 FA, pictured below, at Daigle and Houghton of Bangor, ME.

It's powered by a Series 60 14L w/EGR, 10 speed meritor, 4:11 gears, 24.5" tires. Cruises nicely 65mph@1500rpm. It has 900,600 on the odometer and drives smoother than my Mack with 1/10th that.

I had a lot of work done to it, including the pump/compressor/pto install which brought the total price up to $45,400 with a payment of $1177/mo after 20% down.

My Business plan calls for $14,000/mo gross before any expenses, fuel at $.40 per mile, and 10,000 miles per month. Total expenses estimated at $6,500/mo for a pre-tax profit of $7,500. My conservative yearly net after tax puts me about 20% higher than what I net in 2015 as a company driver. I budgeted this way because I wanted to make sure that this was a viable alternative to being on the payroll with Superior.
Click to expand...

ncdriver1, would you be willing to share your business plan? It sounds like you had it thoroughly thought out and well written. I’ve googled templets but having one that is specifically geared toward being an O/O would be huge. Even just a few pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John

ncdriver1 · Mar 11, 2020

johnnyboggs said: ↑

ncdriver1, would you be willing to share your business plan? It sounds like you had it thoroughly thought out and well written. I’ve googled templets but having one that is specifically geared toward being an O/O would be huge. Even just a few pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John
Click to expand...

What you really want to do is just break out an excel worksheet and start punching in numbers. Business plan for trucking is more or less move stuff from point A to B. The real meat is in the numbers. I was company first before going IC and I would always ask the dispatchers what a particular load was paying. Doing this I learned that some of the runs I liked to do as a company driver didn't work that well for an IC.
From there I just started punching in numbers to figure out if this was viable or not.

johnnyboggs · Mar 12, 2020

ncdriver1 said: ↑

What you really want to do is just break out an excel worksheet and start punching in numbers. Business plan for trucking is more or less move stuff from point A to B. The real meat is in the numbers. I was company first before going IC and I would always ask the dispatchers what a particular load was paying. Doing this I learned that some of the runs I liked to do as a company driver didn't work that well for an IC.
From there I just started punching in numbers to figure out if this was viable or not.
Click to expand...

What did you supply the bank when you applied for your financing? I’m sure they wanted a written business plan. Was it simply a literal explanation of what your plans were as far as signing on with QC and the revenue you could expect?

ncdriver1 · Mar 12, 2020

johnnyboggs said: ↑

What did you supply the bank when you applied for your financing? I’m sure they wanted a written business plan. Was it simply a literal explanation of what your plans were as far as signing on with QC and the revenue you could expect?
Click to expand...

*Superior Carriers*

Tax documents all three times, second truck the bank wanted income statement (basically what your bank account balance was beginning and ending of the year). Vin number and proof of insurance. That was it.

johnnyboggs · Mar 12, 2020

ncdriver1 said: ↑

*Superior Carriers*

Tax documents all three times, second truck the bank wanted income statement (basically what your bank account balance was beginning and ending of the year). Vin number and proof of insurance. That was it.
Click to expand...

Got it. Thanks.

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