Fuel tanker owner operator

Insurance is going to be expensive starting off. I don't know where you live, but here in Chicago, KAG controls a lot of the market.

 

Have you priced insurance for a new carrier with hazmat authority? If a new carrier hauling general freight is $30k or more for insurance I can’t even imagine what it would cost with hazmat.

 

What is your goal? Your own authority? Leasing to a carrier? I’m not sure what you mean by “find loads”. If you have your own authority you’ll need to hustle work from the gas stations and try and get the hauling away from whoever is currently doing it.

 

Talk to the company you are currently hauling for?

 

Starting out as a new entrant with your own authority you are either going to need to do the leg work to find your own customers or use the load boards to find work. Using the load boards is a way to get started and develop a reputation for yourself and allows you time to market yourself to potential new customers for their business.

You may find that the down payment on the insurance is more than you can or want to afford being a new entrant. Some insurance agencies or underwriters may require you to pay your insurance premium in full. You may have to shop around to find an insurance agent or broker who offers financing so you make a down payment and then pay the policy out over 9-11 months.

 

Walk into the nearest 7-11 corporate office and sell your services………

hint, KAG will squish you like a bug.

 

Exactly. I don't know about other areas but in my neck of the woods there are already plenty of carriers for fuel. I'd say that there were just about the perfect amount 'cause nobody is going hungry and nobody is getting rich. Comfortable is a good way to describe it. We like it that way.
If a new guy was to come into this area with his own truck and trailer he 'd get the hauling that nobody else wants...the slow payers, the no payers, the pump jobs, the guy with twenty five hundred gallon tanks with no ladders, poor vents, and parked by a creek (He's also a slow pay).
The new guy would get the jobs that we will not mess with. We see this every year. Some times it's a new company that has more financial backing than good sense comes in, screws everything up, realizes they can't make a living off of our scraps and goes back to the big city.
Or it's a single truck owner, usually young and ambitious, who wants to use our area as a base to establish his own company. As a rule, a set up like that lasts for the busy season and come winter there will be a truck and fuel trailer for sale.
I know the way we do things might smack of exclusionary tactics but so far nobody has complained loud enough. They had the good sense to quit and leave us alone to do what we do.
In one form or another, to one degree or another, anybody trying to get into fuel hauling will face what I've talked about. I wish them luck