Advice on Purchasing a truck or not.

I’ve never drawn a paycheck from anything but companies in trucking since 1987. Grew up around it, third generation. Just trained up my son as a 4th generation driver. I would LOVE to own my own truck. The problem is it has always been tough to put pencil to paper and make the various scenarios work. The numbers have at times looked good but when you factor in the risk and commitment of doing maintenance and such on the weekend and other demands it never made sense That being said my wife of over thirty years and I have raised four great kids, are debt free but the house which will be paid off mid 2025, and have led a comfortable life and have a comfortable retirement coming in ten to fifteen years as a company driver only
My point is I have NEVER understood this fascination with being an owner/operator in trucking. Yes it works fabulously well for some but those folks have taken many risks and put in a lot of hard work but most I’ve known did it because they had a passion for the equipment, lifestyle, and job. Doing it for the money is the exact wrong reason to do it.
My advice would be to not do it. If you don’t have enough self discipline to stay off the stupid phone when you’re employed or contracted to a carrier that has a strict no phone policy I highly doubt you have the self discipline to run a successful business (which is what being a o/o is) that requires the exercise of self discipline many times a day.

Remember the old joke; what’s the best way to end up with 200,000 dollars in trucking? Start with 400,000!

 

I have been doing this a long time, all as a company driver.As I too have put pen to paper several times in my career and couldn't make it look good enough for me to o/o.
The rule of thumb to make money in trucking was always that the rate per mile had to equal the cost of a gallon of fuel, give or take. When it did guys could pay a mortgage, raise a family, get an occasional new car and save for the kids college, etc.
Who knows if the situation changes come November.

 

How is taking on the cost of fuel, maintenance, insrance, and repairs going to make it EASIER to stack money in your bank account? A single truck operator is not going to be half as efficient as a big operator. Be a company driver where you pay nothing forbthe truck. Your income is all profit, the company does all ofvthe accounting, repairs, fuel, insurance & finds freight.

Would you jump off a bridge if someone told you it will double your income? Don't jump.

 

You have bad credit, which means you can't manage your finances. How do you expect to run and manage a business? I am just being realistic

 

I will also add I’m not just blowing smoke about the business part. For about 10 years my wife and I ran a successful daycare operation. She was great at the day to day care of the kiddos and our employees but sucked at the back office stuff. I handled all the business end. We were a full blown state licensed, state inspected type one daycare. The only reason it ended was our niche market dried up, I.e. folks that had county assistance. We never worried about cash flow. As long as they showed up and signed the ledger the county issued their money to us. They had three no shows then out the door they went and the county had a waiting list of low income folks waiti to take the no shows place. During the financial crises of 08 and 09 county funding dried up and our area just doesn’t support a private pay daycare at the level we charged so the business folded and the wife went back to teaching. My point is she loved working with the kids, we primarily focused on birth to about 8 or 9 years old but didn’t want anything to do with the back office stuff I did. Trying to be an o/o is like that, the driving line the teaching is only a part of the job. I’m not saying you’re a bad driver but I’m not hearing the vibe of a good business owner. Businesses are very different in some aspects but very similar in others, all gave to deal with taxes, regulations, insurance, laws, maintenance of physical assets, income flow, expense ratio, etc, etc. that’s where most guys that try to go o/o fail. That and they think lease purchasing from a carrier who controls your market and revenue is the same as being an owner operator.

 

I wouldn't even consider buying a truck unless there was $40k left over in the bank after buying the truck.

Starting out without 2 nickles to rub together is a good way to start out going backwards IMO.

 

I had driven as an employee for several years before I got the brainy idea to go O/O. Bought a “cheap truck”, got all my numbers and insurance, and woohoo, I was truckin. All the way to 6600 miles, then truck engine blew up…. Never been tighter on money in my life, that’s when I started getting grey hair. I’ve always enjoyed finances, and I have great credit, and we managed to pull through by robbing Peter to pay Paul. If you are tight on money, AND have bad credit, I will quote everyone else. DONT TRY IT.

 

Even being successfully brings all the grey with the stress…. Btw OP, My vote is, don’t do it due to your finances and the inflation period we are in.

 

bad credit and little money = disaster recipe

 

So I talked to Pete and paccar.
20% down. 10% interest for 5 years i think it was. But I don't have bad credit.

There is one. With cheap down payments. And fairly cheap payments for 40 months. And I would consider them if they still sold sticks. Although At the moment they have 10 10speeds. But the wheelbase is too short for my needs.

I talked to my credit union. I wouldn't need a down payment. And payments would be lower. For same purchase price.

There are people out there. With ridiculously high payments.

But the o/o failure rate is too high.
Having sh** plugged in to the computer isn't good for the computer and will cause alot of electrical issues. And emissions issues. Combine that with hauling cheap freight across the country. And it won't matter how fat that maintenance account is. You'll be broke in a quick second.

I can see it happen with minimal funds. But you need the right truck. The right loan. And the right business that pays. Preferably in a timely manner. And you'll probably need the trailer too.

You can't just jump in and say LET'S GO. It don't work that way. And maintenance along with funds aren't the only considerations. Taxes will F you just as bad if you don't pay.

The stars need to be aligned. And yours aren't. The money needs to be there and most go where it isn't.

That cell phone thing is your worst nightmare. Also.