Insurance for an 18 year old

i just dont see how one can make it work with that high of an insurance payment... loads out of seattle are either going to portland, pasco/tri cities, yakima, or spokane(sure there is other cities but these are the best ones to find outbound loads back to seattle)... if you're intrastate then portland is out of the question... the other deliveries, a round trip cannot be completed in 1 day everyday(ive tried this before). theres to many variables... so at the 4 dollar a mile rate, 200 miles ( about the range, give or take 50 miles for each city) thats 800 dollars, but you are only going to get 3 loads a week completed. some weeks you may get 4 loads. some may even work out to 5 . but most weeks will be somewhere around 3...

this is assuming rates stay the same and never go down... which we know is not realistic... at 3 loads a week we have ran 1200 miles(round trip), but only getting paid for 600 miles at 4 a mile.. with a breakeven cost of 2.00 a mile with that high insurance payment (assuming equipment is paid off)... your profit will be whatever fuel you can save on the way back to seattle empty or whatever outbound load you can find back to seattle ( which is most likely not paying much).... this is the best case scenario. assuming the rates never go down and assuming a 50k a year paycheck is ok for running a trucking business, and you can consistantly find loads for 4 dollars a mile or higher always delivering in these 3 cities, every single day...

a better way to bid on these loads would be for a day rate rather then per mile. because seattle freight is a time suck . getting loaded and unloaded and navigating in and out of the city (traffic, mountains)will take half your day. especially any intrastate loads going into seattle or tacoma (from the cities you are delievering) are going to the ports 80% of the time, which is an all day affair and is not worth the money even for 3 times the rate you are looking at.

these are estimated numbers but i hope it can paint a more realistic picture for what your operation would face if you were to go out on your own and make these runs... if you are set on going on your own then by all means i wish you the best of luck. But its going to be incredibly difficult to get by, until your insurance comes down, and you can build some relationships to find better paying freight.

 

@Tormentor you get a new quote? Really interested to know what they said.

 

I couldnt answer that question accuratly because i dont go to texas ever. Ive spent the last 2 years running oregon washington idaho and montana...there was a guy on here awhile back @HillbillyDeluxeTruck he ran nothing hut texas with a flatbed. He would be the one to ask about that. @God prefers Diesels might know about the texas market as well.

Its always better to start off and gain experience, there is plenty of work around the seattle area if thats where u are.

 

Could you please send your agent's contact number?

Thanks