Carrier in desperate need of advice. Please Help!! New to Forum.

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and excited to be able to share and receive feedback from many of you. One of the main reasons that I joined was to ask for advice from all of you who are Owner operators/Independent Motor Carriers as I am. My trucks have been running for almost 4 years now. I must confess that I now see the financial setback I have put myself into by not having funds from the beginning, to back me up in these difficult times. I pretty much threwmyself into the water with nothing more but a passion and respect for big rigs and a need to become my own boss. 2009 has definately been a very slow and difficult year as far as trying to keep my account from going NSF. My debt has peaked due to relying on business and personal Credit cards to pay for repairs, diesel, and over the road expenses. I still owe on my equipment, in need of yet more repairs, must soon come up with Insurance renewal down payment, and to top it all off, over 10k that I must pay back to the IRS. To illustrate my situatio further, I do factor my invoices and everything up to last December seemed to be running peacefully. I am still paying a mortgage also, incurr office expenses, loads are extremely underpaid, and I had the misfortune of having two brokers still owe me money (I'm trying to deal with that legally). Can anybody offer some advice? I'm really trying to avoid getting a loan, but is that my only option? What should I do now? Get out of business? Wait it out? Sell my company or equipment?


Very much Stressed & blue

-Mar

 

Very true, sometimes I find a little consolation to know that I am not the only one in trouble, however I feel the pressure to figure it all out before I dig myself into a bigger hole. What's your story Bob? Nice to meet you and thanks for replying.

 

Thanks for the tip jtrnr1951

 

Thanks for your insight madbunny. I appreciate all the feedback I can get. Well I do have my own authority, I do have a list of many contacts myself, and you're absolutely right about the truck getting paid first, believe me I've put back into those trucks more than anything. I also have an accountant who takes care of my End of year taxes, from what I am finding out...the hard way, is that I need to incorporate. I am partnered with my father, it's a family business. We don't have any issues as to how much or who gets what, thankfully. This year however, I have been beaten with the ugly stick as far as having to take, like you said, cheaper loads due to the fact that there isn't much moving at the moment. My drivers have seen an increasing number of out of state trucks that are now doing the same loads we have been since we started, many of these aren't going back to where they came from, i.e. California plates, many of them. Backhaul is low, and sometimes none at all. I too understand how hard you have to work for those contacts and how important it is to conserve that relationship, sucks that some although they want to help, have nothng to offer at the moment. I realize I am limited to how far I can move since I'm intrastate. To answer your first question I started with one truck, and gradually added 3 more, two of my own and an o/o working w/me.