Question for the first generation trucker

I am 55 and never had a job except for a couple short stints in management positions and hated it
Other than that I’ve always worked for myself
Had a successful business with 30 crews and even though the $$ was great it seemed as if my wife and I never left work

We called it our adult daycare
Now we have the trucking and she manages a company from home

I work until I’m sick of the road and go home until I’m sick of that
I personally have never been 9-5. Went to college to be an engineer and nope!! Wasn’t going to sit at a desk next to anyone for any amount of $$

There are what? Over 3 million drivers??
Only a small sample of those are here in the forum and of those a smaller sample of O/O and of those again a smaller sample of ones who love what they do

You will only get a reply here that’s like a restaurant review so you’ll have to weed through it. Find the middle in there somewhere and make as good of a decision as you can with partial information
Some love it some hate it but again. Over 3 million
And those who are making $$$ usually. Not always but usually are too busy to hang out on a forum
I had a question in 2012 and that’s how I even found this. Haven’t been on much other than here and there until the past few weeks

Go to a truck stop. Walk up to the polished chrome dripping trucks and ask them about this forum
Many won’t know what you’re talking about
That doesn’t make those here or not better or worse. Just that some are too busy and happy with their choice of driving
Same goes for income.
Many of those same guys won’t sit and discuss what they make. They don’t need the competition

For me it works and I make good $. Have new gear. And vacation when I want

If you need or want to start small. You could start hotshot and work your way up but that’s a whole other story

 

Very well written! I totally agree.

 

I’ve been over the road with my own truck for about 4.5 years. I do run under someone else’s authority pulling tanks. I enjoy my job, but I’m definitely doing it for the money. If the pay was the same as my old job, I’d go back to what I was doing in the ag sector. The hours were really flexible during the slow times of year and my old boss is still a good friend of mine. I transitioned from general labor to a local grain hauler there to get experience to qualify for the insurance company at the place I’m leased on to. One other point that makes my situation easier is that I have no kids and am not married. That allows me to stay multiple weeks out if need be without any trouble.

 

Can you post the law or FMCSA regulation regarding this exactly? As a leased on O/O I was informed by my carrier that doing what they consider "trip leasing" or working my truck while not under their MC is not prohibited but they would need to be notified when I am doing such.

If you have the facts regarding this I would appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Thanks.

 

What he is saying is you can’t have two insurance policies on the same truck to cover the same things. This is not about trip leasing or subleasing, it is about how insurance works and the laws that prevent double dipping on claims.

why does everyone think this stuff is in the FMCSA regulations? There are a hell of a lot of laws on the state level that govern and regulate trucking that matter more. Insurance is a state thing, not a federal thing.

 

Didn't state it from a FMCSA position, just the position we take as an underwriting company.

We get a FMCSA data dump every month and determine if OUR INSURED'S have been inspected under someone else's authority......or if a NON-SCHEDULED power unit has been inspected/operated under our insured's authority......IF so, we'll cancel our coverage, or insured's get's one chance to schedule the offending unit and we go on.

 

You have wrecker experience, so you aren't a complete noob in regards to heavy road vehicles, but I am still concerned that you are considering jumping straight into being a o/o of a tractor.

For most of my life I have done blue collar work in construction, pc repair, etc. In 2006 or so I started working an office job. At first it was great. Then I was put under a type-A personality ###### manager, and the job went to hell.

A couple years later, NCR moved my job to lovely war-torn Serbia for the cheap labor there. I decided to try trucking for a living, and I will never go back to anything else willingly.

But... I did 3 years as a company driver before buying a truck.

I suggest an absolute minimum of 1 year as a company driver before considering either leasing or buying a truck. Let someone else pay for your learning curve and mistakes.

 

So I am guessing the guy that wants to sell you the business wants to retire?
See if he will hire you for a decent wage and then train you up to do all parts of the business.
Then you buy it in a year