So you want to "own " your own company

it depends what you want to try and do if it was a perfect world have 60 days of fuel money after you pay plates and insurance and 10k in a WTF fund

but before any of that matters find the gig that pays first then the equipment that suits the gig also I doubt you will run across the gig while working for crst or any of the mega fleet guys

also the truck is an expense it is the trailer that makes income

 

Gears,
Thanks for the info.
I'll take your opinions.
Any help would be appreciated.

All I m asking for here is advice from experienced O/O's about the business ,so I can learn from mistakes of others ( if you are willing to admit them) so I can avoid making some of them( hopefully all of them).

Yes, to some here you can say I am destined to fail, but as I see it, I am destined to succeed. With previous management experience,previous business's owned, research and sound financial choices, I think I have a good shot.

I know I have much to learn about the business, but as I see it, being an O/O would be much greater an opportunity than say a company driver.
I have this opportunity to be an O/O,and I would like grasp it.

A guy I know of got into a similar business related to trucking about 6 years ago,survived the worst of the economy,everyone said he was crazy, he knew nothing about the business, but he had start up $ and a good business plan. Today he owns 3 trucks,2 cranes.He is doing OK today, he took a chance.
He fills me in on some stuff, but in reality he is not in the trucking business.

Negativity is easy to dish out, especially if your not happy in this business.

Any / all advice would be appreciated,

 

I have to agree that being an owner/operator is definitely the way to go. I work with o/o's on a daily basis and you can definitely make good money on your own. Working for someone else in this industry is good, but once you can get out on your own financially then the long term rewards will be well worth it.

 

if you cannot admit them you won't be one long

just make sure it is a good one as there are lots of bad opportunities out there and many a shark willing to profit from your lose

just make sure you to all the math and work on a realistic pov and not one of faith or blind optimism

and good luck

 

alright drivers.... need a little help here... i been going through it back and fourth with trucking for awhile... i was driving for CRST for like 3 months and wrongfully terminated.... long story but i posted it on here before.. I been trying to get hired by a few companies but CRST was blackballing me from getting hired anywhere... I found a guy that had his owm company and he was verifying everything for me so i could get hired. I did..... but at that same time my girlfriend at the time had a mis-carrage so i stayed home and tried to do just school... now i am trying to get hired again but the company that was going to hire me switched file systems and dont have all my info anymore.... and i cant get ahold of the guy that was verifying for me.. his company closed.... so,, would any drivers out of california that have a DOT MC number on here be so kind as to help me out and verify some experience for me?? it sounds like a big thing but the hiring company will just ask the simple questions about drug testing and if i had any accidents and what dates i worked... as long as your a legit company.. your seriously probably saving my life.... PM me please...

 

They may save your life, but if you got into a major accident you could be costing them theirs, as lawyers will cover every detail of your records.

 

You definitely need a fund for WTF. I hear so many stories of o/o's who get up a creek because something goes wrong that they were expecting and they don't have the extra money to get it fixed.

 

I'd recommend to any start-up outside of CA to buy a pre-2003 truck. 2003 and after have EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) emissions systems on them, they'll cost you upwards of .5mpg and that's been attested to here on the forum. There's also the added repair costs if the EGR valve fails (they often do), or the EGR cooler goes bad.

I know for a fact, because my 2005 Cummins makes nearly a mpg lower than a friends 2002 Cummins under the same loads. I'm going to look for ways to lessen the blow in the future and keep the truck I have, but if I knew that was the case before I bought the truck - it would be an older unit.

Fuel costs are the BIGGEST concern to an owner/ operator - hands down! With diesel at $2.75 a gallon on average, and mileage pay where it is right now (in the crapper), it will cost you nearly half of revenue just for fuel. Yes, half!

By the numbers, my truck makes about 6mpg flat as long as I run smart. I usually see $1.20 a mile (on my end) from a hopper. So you divide $2.75/ gallon by 6 = $0.46 per mile just in fuel. Now that pay is not on all miles, just loaded miles to me - so in reality my fuel cost for miles has to include deadhead which is at least 15% of the miles I run weekly. Adding 15% to the .46 comes to basically $0.53 per mile in raw fuels costs. I also run fuel additives so that adds a little to the costs, but in general, this is why fuel mileage is so important - it will be the biggest recurring cost.

Regardless of what anyone selling you a truck may tell (don't believe mileage claims), you have to run below 1,500 rpm at 70mph to make decent fuel mileage. Alot of trucks have short gears to make the most of their power, but you can almost always uprate power to pull harder.

In general, if you're running the highway, you'll want your gears to be higher than 3.40:1 (lower number in front - like 3.36:1 would be a higher gear than 3.40:1) if you're running 22.5" low profiles. 24.5's are slightly taller tires, but I'd still look for nearly the same gears with them.

I run 22.5" lo-pros with 3.58:1 gears = about 1,550rpm at 70mph, and at that speed and rpm my mpg starts falling fast.

Hope this helps, it equals $$ for an owner/operator.

 

with my trucks gears and hp I have a 98 fld with a 12.7 s60@ 430 it gets better milage than my 01 with a 500 s60 and 3.20 gears by more than 1.5 both condos with cans behind them

 

when you buy your first truck (first truck meaning you have never been apart of the IRP).. how do you go about getting it from the dealer back to your home? do you still have to worry about IFTA? or is that waved for that one time trip? i was told that if you have proof of insurance the dealer would give you a temp tag so you could get it to the house.. but would you get bothered with for not having IFTA?