Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

If you buy a used modern truck from a mega, expect to make a pretty decent chunk less as a o/o than you did as a company driver.

There is a reason Megas sell those trucks at 400k miles. At 500k miles when the warranty is gone, the trucks start falling apart, and a lot of deferred maintenance starts to bite the new owner in the ###.

That doesn't mean that buying a used mega truck is a waste of time. There are two things you need before you can get a decent bank loan on a new truck. First, 2 or so years of being in business as an o/o. Second, a decent credit rating. Buying a used mega truck and running it until paid off should get you both of those things if you aren't terribly unlucky.

REMEMBER that you are going to spend a LOT of money and/or time on repairs though. If you have tight finances before you buy a truck, it's only going to get worse.

I have almost no bills other than a storage unit and truck/business related expenses, and there have been two times in the last two years that my total available cash + credit started to get to a point that made me worry.

If it was easy, everyone could do it.

 

10k per year for an older but modern truck is not bad at all. My expenses have been considerably higher. I suspect you do a lot of the basic work yourself?

 

If you can get a brand new truck, be sure you verify what you will need to pay for insurance with your DMV records and your years of experience.

That said, if you want to experience the life of a contract driver rather than a company driver, AND YOU HAVE AT LEAST 1 FULL YEAR DRIVING EXPERIENCE, It might be worth trying a 1-year lease on a truck with 300k miles or so on it.

That part in caps might look annoying, but I cannot emphasize it enough. Let someone else pay for your new driver mistakes. You will likely make a few. Most of them will be cheap, but if you make the right (wrong?) mistake it can be extremely expensive.

As for the terms I mentioned on a lease... A solo driver will not put more than 150k miles on a truck in a year (and if you get close to that, you're a #### driving maniac) so you will not go beyond factory warranty. If the truck is a couple years old, your insurance rates will also be lower. If you plan on driving team, make sure you have at least 250k miles remaining on the warranty of a 1 year lease truck.

Also, try to get a walkaway lease - ESPECIALLY if you ignore my advice and lease before you have 1 full year driving experience. It's good to be able to walk away from a mistake, even if walking away costs you a bit of money.

 

Well, the unexpected results of the 2020 election have made me start reconsidering my plans. Enormous tax increases seem inevitable in the near future, and the new government despises small businesses, considering that the party in power is the same party actively engaged in destroying small businesses with destructive quarantine policies.

Don't turn this into a political fight thread. It is a simple fact that Democrats want more taxes, and larger government. Now that they have taken power, small businesses will be placed under even more tax and regulation burdens.