Need advice, buy a truck or buy into hot shotting

That's where you are mistaken.

That revenue is not enticing.

Right now trucks are in a slump, and the rates are in the toilet. The only guys really getting by are guys that have been in this business for some time and their stuff is paid off.

I'm not knocking you, but if you think the revenue is enticing you have absolutely no idea what you are looking at.

Sure, if you're an employee somewhere and you see the gross from someone that has a truck, you think they're making a lot of money.

No no no no no no.

Again I'm not knocking you but you're not even sure what percentage of what percentage you're going to get.

That to me is kind of like saying, I heard an owner operator grossed this much the other week wow that money sounds great, I need to buy a truck.

Again no offense, but you have absolutely positively no idea what you are looking at.

By the way, have you not only checked on what your vehicle insurance will cost, have you checked what your health insurance will cost if you're self-employed?

That alone right there may make you come to your senses.

If I were you, I would try to go back into the industry you were in before, that you were making good money.

The trucking business in so many ways, it's just effing brutal.

There's a reason why 90 to 95% of trucking startups end up closing down.

By the way, there are plenty of guys that are employees that make substantially more than most owner operators.

It is not at all what you think it is.

 

80/20 is pretty good…. Until it’s slow. Then you will be parked and they’ll be pulling the loads for themselves. Ive hauled Super-B of Frac Sand for years and it’s a volatile market. Be prepared to be parked for 4-5 months in the spring minimum.

 

You have 50-year companies going under, and you expect this to be a good year to join the circus? you can either be apart the audience the company driver the show being O/O, or even a small company, so this isn't as easy as just driving a truck; that's the easy part.

 

You’re cooked if you buy a truck right now. You’re not even asking the right questions, because you don’t even know which questions to ask. You’ll lose it all within a year or two, just like the majority of the rest. At least post on here when it all goes tits up so we can laugh at you.

 

If it were me, I'd go work as a company driver. I don't really see where there is that much more money in being an owner operator than being a company driver. It's a lot of expenses owning a company. 25k isn't that much money to get started as an owner operator. The lone advantage of having your own truck, at least in my opinion, you get to decide where/when to run.

 

What do you mean "You know better than that" when it comes to Swift? Do you? You can't possibly have a clue if you've never worked there. Bonehead Truckers and all the internet fools don't really have true intel on Swift. Reviews and the internet don't always tell the story about trucking. If you need some experience, you better take what you can get being that deep into Texas.

 

Beg for your job back or go to Swift.....

 

The fork in the road you face is tough.

When truck prices are reasonable and you can get good deals the freight market isn't very good but when the market is good prices become unreasonable.

25k isn't enough to buy a truck and have enough cushion incase things get worse before better.

Oil... prices seem to have a greater probability of going down rather than up as it currently stands so what does that mean for you?

 

...And the maintenance/licensing/insurance/loan costs are daunting. Also, those costs stay about even regardless of how much money you have rolling in. FWTW, $25k invested into a rig is peanuts compared to the amount of money you will need to borrow on a high-risk business loan.

Say what you want about the Midland/Odessa area (looks like somebody just dropped 2 towns in the middle of nothing...), but you live on a major freight lane! You can go east coast, west coast, Chicago, etc. and STILL get home on the weekend from there. And, FWIW, I think that a year of Swift is probably what you SHOULD be doing. You have some experience, which is more than 90% of new Swifties have. You could become a trainer fairly quickly. You will have a variable, but guaranteed paycheck, and you will see lots of different driving and parking situations. After a year of Swift (or similar company..), you'll have more $$, and a better idea of what pay, and what you want.

If you go into business for yourself right now it is GUARATEED you will fail and be bankrupt in about 12-18 months.