My truck is coming, any suggestions for the first company to start with?

Just entering my 4th year as an O/O

I would stick with Challenger.

I have leased to 2 companies, worked as a power only ABL contractor to a bunch (10) of other companies and run under a friends authority with one of his trailers.

Stick with larger, well known, established companies! The majority of companies in Canada, use O/Os as disposable assets. They run them hard and cheap, until their trucks are broken or milled out, then dump them; usually without paying. I’ve been lucky to always get paid, but I’ve seen many that didn’t.

Of all the companies I did ABL for, I would lease to NONE of them. They couldn’t screw us as contractors, but they had no problem screwing their O/Os.

So if you are happy at Challenger, get along with them, and work a schedule you like, don’t leave! They will pay you, they will have good fuel/tire/shop discounts, and you will always have work. Don’t be fooled by these places that advertise double the rates, they take it all back in double the deductions. Other places advertise percentage pay, but they control the rate, so you only get a percentage of what they claim the load is paying; which is usually half of what they got for it.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have shut my yap, done my 2 years company at Bison, then tried for turnpike O/O there. If that didn’t work, 2 years company at Bison, and O/O at the place I’m at PERIOD. You waste a lot of time and money as an O/O, to see if the grass is greener.

 

If your happy with CMF stay with them .There are better company's out there and there are far worse company's but when you boil it all down your better off sticking with what you know.The grass isn't always greener somewhere else. I've been with them as an O/O for over 35 years now ,thru all the good and the bad but stuck it out.Semi retired now and work 2 1/2 - 3 days a week and take winters off.You could do far worse at a lot of other company's. The only other company I would recommend would be Erb if you wanted refer work .

 

I'm on the southern side of the border, but I agree with everything BigHossVolvo put here. I leased my rig to a large, well known carrier for the niche I was interested in, and ran my lease through another large carrier. Worked smart, earned my pay, never had to worry about that pay getting into my account on time every time.

Bigger carriers also generally have access to a broader customer base. Can make life easier for you, having more options for freight and lanes.

 

All the big fleets pay pretty close to the same rates.Some of the smaller ones pay a bit more but you don't have the same freight availability and when you boil it all down if you stick with dry van freight theirs not anyone paying the big $$$$$$. If you were to get into something specialized (over-sized )you could do better but that also comes with a whole new way of operating.The first brand new truck I bought in 1985 was only $80,000 and I see where guys are paying well over $200,000 for new ones now so with those prices you will definitely need to keep the wheels turning at today's rates. Good luck with your new adventure.

 

No problem dude, if you were wanna msg me about rates/lanes/type of work/net profit etc etc etc please feel free. Always willing to help, esp guys who take on O/O with a new truck, which IMHO is still the best way to do it. Just remember, advertised rates mean nothing, gross profit means nothing, everything is Net Revenue/Net Profit Per Mile/Cost Per Mile. Challenger is one of the better paying in the industry, esp for van, so you should do well. Strongly think about LCV in the future, which Challenger also does.

 

Original poster, if you don’t mind telling, what did you get your new truck for? What’s it equipped with? And did you get an extended warranty etc?