Paying off debt success stories from drivers living in the truck.

I know several drivers personally to drive anywhere from 4 to 8 months out of the year save every penny by living on the truck and they pretty much drive nonstop, except a day off here and they’re usually out on the road every once in a while they’ll stay in a hotel to get off the truck. Then they go live overseas where you can live on about $1500 a month about like you can $6000 a month in the states. Then they come back and do it again rinse and repeat. A few drivers I know the same company takes them back over and over because they’re good drivers. Some have to find a different trucking job. Just depends. Not a bad life at all if you ask me.

 

A few thoughts ...

What makes you think you can even drive a truck?

You can not hold down a job and drive a truck; you have to focus on learning how to drive.

I get you want to live in a truck, but see if you will be allowed to. I had two drivers who completely trashed their new truck, so I ended up getting rid of them. I now ask drivers if they want to do this, then they have to bring that truck in every quarter to see if it is clean.

It used to work as a good plan, this industry is changing, the mundane loads will end up being covered by robots, and they will rule (joke).

 

A few thoughts ...

What makes you think you can even drive a truck?

You can not hold down a job and drive a truck; you have to focus on learning how to drive.

I get you want to live in a truck, but see if you will be allowed to. I had two drivers who completely trashed their new truck, so I ended up getting rid of them. I now ask drivers if they want to do this, then they have to bring that truck in every quarter to see if it is clean.

It used to work as a good plan, this industry is changing, the mundane loads will end up being covered by robots, and they will rule (joke).

 

Oh yeah that's a good point about the HOS rules. I wasn't thinking when I said that. Nevermind, don't do that.

 

See what I did when I started was sell everything and ditch all my bills. I committed 100%. I got my CDL paid for by WIOA. Had a job lined up before I had my license, and learned a lot quickly. If you don't have kids and pets, plus if you're over 30 years old, and it sounds appealing to you, then go for it. But it's more than just a job. It's a lifestyle. If you don't see it that way you'll wash out before you have the experience you need to find a really decent long term position. Trucking ain't easy, there's a reason it's called the Mean Streets, cuz it ain't nice out here. Now I have almost 2 years experience and I'm making more money than I've ever made in my life. Still have no bills. I don't even tell people how much I make because I don't want to hurt their feelings, but I looked hard and long for about 6 months and I found it. There's a lot of options in trucking so if you can survive the first 6-12 months a whole lot of doors will start to open up for you.

 

Driving a truck is great I need to get back on that road right now. Have you ever driven any internationals with the Cummins inside? How do they hold up? I’m thinking about buying one very soon.

 

Living on the road full time is awesome and I'm getting way ahead financially. Before this, though, I lived in the hold of a boat in the Bering sea and worked 16 hour days for contracts spanning 75 days. You do not need that kind of experience necessarily, but the less of a 9-5 background (and expectations) you have the better.

 

I only drove an international once, it was fine. If I was going to buy a truck I would personally go with the Freightliner just because that's the most common truck, but I don't think there's a huge difference between the two right now. Anything with a DEF system is going to be a nightmare after around 600,000 miles, or sooner. So I wouldn't worry much about which engine is in any of these cookie cutter trucks. It's going to be governed anyways, so unless you're going with an old school Pete and looking for heavy haul, or you want to mess around and find out about a delete, I would not even worry much about which engine it is.

 

Most important quality you need to be successful is a commitment to get the job done. Something will go wrong literally every day, and you will need to not let it get to you and be able to solve problems. A lot of people just can't work without a certain degree of structure, and even the most overbearing dispatch and office staff in the world can't physically be there to handle things.

 

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