Crunching The Numbers, Am I Missing Something?? (newb)

@J9Cav I pull dedicated auto parts. I’d strongly consider expediting in this industry. I just talked to an O/O who teams with his wife. They have 2 trucks (another husband-wife team runs the other) and was pulling 5 orders, at $12/mi, out of the same vendor as I. He had to be ~500mi away in ~8hrs. We were talking about this last holiday week and said he ran two loads, combined 1000 miles, that paid the truck $8500, that week. He said it’s all they do. Both their trucks are Pete 389’s with full-custom bunks.

Now, before anyone says “BS!”, to what I’ve just posted, mfrs bill $10K/hr for a line shutdown. I have 45min windows for pickups and deliveries. I cannot go through the mfr gate outside that window, as my times are tracked by the mfr. Being early is as bad as being late.

 

When you run under your own authority, don't a lot of load boards that you will deal with want you to be under your own authority for a minimum amount of time before they start letting you pull loads? I was under the impression one of the biggest obstacles is having 1-2 years of being in business, under your own authority, before a lot of companies will let you pull their loads and/or deal with you. That there are companies out there that will work with you, but then you are generally working for a lot less rates per mile if they do work with you in general. Is this not true?

 

OP...if you do decide to look more into Class A CDL team drivers, UPS Feeders is always hiring for team drivers also. They do offer great benefits and good pay for team drivers, union, and seem to always be desperate for team drivers. Getting in as a solo driver is extremely difficult, but not if you are willing to be a team driver or walking in as a team is my guess.

 

Yes

but if they got $200k cash to buy a truck , they got another $10k to buy a seasoned MC number.
That’s why you always register the MC number to a LLC and not yourself when you get the MC #

Then you can sell it by selling the LLC


You better be a quick learner if you’re gonna jump in green as an O/O

i suspect biggest issue is going to be finding and paying for insurance with a newly minted CDL and zero experience.
So I hope they get a insurance quote before they buy the truck .

Thats most newbies have to lease their rig onto someone else’s authority, to be able to get insurance .

that said , I jumped in as a newbie as an O/O but I was young and desperately poor and had nothing to lose, and started out with a two year rent to own deal running under a large companies authority , doing what’s now called power only , running regional / local .
I ran 250 miles of their terminal and was back home most nights , but usually it was 10 or 11 at night when I got back .

The company I leased with had just opened a new terminal and had a large contract to deliver auto parts to the ford and GM assembly plants nearby , from all over the east coast and upper Midwest.

i would usually take 3 or 4 trailers a couple miles to the assembly plant , bobtail back and then grab a loaded trailer and make a local delivery and then go about 150 miles away and pick up a live load .

 

My suggestion:
Go to this dealer Shelby Elliot in Sikeston MO. He specializes in "big house" tractors, 100" sleepers and above.
https://www.shelbyelliott.com/
Buy one of his units within your budget, both of you travel as if it is the RV of your dreams
Find someone who will either lease you on, or get your own DOT numbers.
In the event the trucking thing doesn't work out, just bobtail with the unit to your hearts content.

 

This isn't as bad as you may think to navigate. There are ways around this and from what I hear, Progressive will insure you. But what a lot of folks are doing now is getting a VIN # off any truck, insuring it for the minimum since they aren't actually driving it, and then cook the insurance for a while that way until they get their own truck up and running. I forget the exact numbers, but lets say it's something like you need $750k or $1mill for your freight insurance coverage to operate with most companies. But that's only to qualify to pull a load. So what they do is they get the minimum freight coverage, let's say it's $40k or something of that nature, pay a lot less premium, and then let the insurance run like that for a while so they can become established to qualify for a lot of load boards to have some time under their belts. A lot of folks do this while they are waiting to get up and running. I forget all the details and specifics, but there are plenty of youtube videos about how to do all this step by step for new drivers or new MC#'s to be able to get ramped up and become an O/O. Here is an example of it...it helps you get insurance to help with load boards and overcome some of those hurdles. If I remember correctly without rewatching the video that guy is an insurance expert. It's been a little while since I looked into it all.

 

Can't wait to see how y'all like FedEx. It's a good gig!