First 3 Months as O/O hauling Super B

BigJohn54 · Jul 21, 2011

sinistar said: ↑

I should have been more clear. The Figures I gave included, workmens comp, health insurance, license/permits & fuel tax.

I have excluded drivers wages, maintance, tire fund, equip replacement and income taxes.

I average aprox 10000 miles per month loaded 50% of the time, does $2500 sound like a reasonable amount per month to cover maint, tire fund, and mechanical issues down the road?

I searched for about 4 months trying to find "the perfect truck" lol. This truck is in very good shape, full documentation, inframe done 70k miles ago by finning. Although that being said there always seems to be somethine small going wrong with it, I have been getting nickel and dimed to the tune of about $1500 per month so far.

I have owned two other businesses before I got into trucking, and my motivation to be a trucker was the fact that I love driving. The problem as a company driver was , 5-6 g a month sucks, and so did the company trucks I had to drive

My wife co-drives with me although we are not long haulers, but she is starting to complain about the weekends spent going to shops getting stuff fixed. Is there ever a break from visiting the mechanics on weekends or wrenching it myself?

Thx for the info guys
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I would say $2500 on 10,000 miles (0.25 CPM) sounds high but you have been spending $1500, which is 0.15 CPM.

Since you talk about dollars per month, I don't know how it can include things like license paid once a year and fuel tax paid once a quarter. It would only include those expenses if the month you are looking at had them paid in it. Then that month would bear a cost that was for three or twelve months.

What I'm getting at is, IMHO, you need to look at revenue and costs in CPM. You should have all costs figured in for a year and then divided by miles. It would start as a projection or last years numbers and be changed as current data becomes available. This is a much better way of keeping a handle on all costs of operation. By using this method each load pays it's part of each and every expense.

Trucker24 · Jul 21, 2011

Those numbers sound pretty good. I wanted to get a truck myself but once i figured the cost of everything like, insurance, gas, etc... I made nothing and that wasn't including 401K, benefits, etc... I might make 6K as a company driver but i got everything and i don't have to worry about nothing. Thats just me.

JoeyJunk · Jul 21, 2011

Trucker24 said: ↑

Those numbers sound pretty good. I wanted to get a truck myself but once i figured the cost of everything like, insurance, gas, etc...
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Wait til you figure in the cost of diesel!!!!

sinistar · Jul 21, 2011

BigJohn54 said: ↑

I would say $2500 on 10,000 miles (0.25 CPM) sounds high but you have been spending $1500, which is 0.15 CPM.

Since you talk about dollars per month, I don't know how it can include things like license paid once a year and fuel tax paid once a quarter. It would only include those expenses if the month you are looking at had them paid in it. Then that month would bear a cost that was for three or twelve months.

What I'm getting at is, IMHO, you need to look at revenue and costs in CPM. You should have all costs figured in for a year and then divided by miles. It would start as a projection or last years numbers and be changed as current data becomes available. This is a much better way of keeping a handle on all costs of operation. By using this method each load pays it's part of each and every expense.
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I haul in Canada, fuel taxes are included on our fuel invoice every statement and paid per month. License and insurance is broken up into monthly payments as well, at $950.00 per month! Worksafe insurance is paid every 3 months as well as healthcare.

I also need to minimize the effect from the taxman! Do you guys find its worth going to an accountant as opposed to doing your own books? Is there writeoff's that maybe you would have missed.

I actually get the same fuel mileage as the other guys hauling Super B's with aerodynamic tractors! I guess it must be the mountain's and the weight that we haul. Gotta love driving a long nose pete and taking no hit in fuel economy

Prairie Boy · Jul 21, 2011

sinistar said: ↑

I haul in Canada, fuel taxes are included on our fuel invoice every statement and paid per month. License and insurance is broken up into monthly payments as well, at $950.00 per month! Worksafe insurance is paid every 3 months as well as healthcare.

I also need to minimize the effect from the taxman! Do you guys find its worth going to an accountant as opposed to doing your own books? Is there writeoff's that maybe you would have missed.

I actually get the same fuel mileage as the other guys hauling Super B's with aerodynamic tractors! I guess it must be the mountain's and the weight that we haul. Gotta love driving a long nose pete and taking no hit in fuel economy
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Let an accountant with trucking experience do the tax returns.

BigJohn54 · Jul 21, 2011

BigJohn54 said: ↑

Since you talk about dollars per month, I don't know how it can include things like license paid once a year and fuel tax paid once a quarter. It would only include those expenses if the month you are looking at had them paid in it. Then that month would bear a cost that was for three or twelve months.
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I didn't say that very well. All those items are paid for and there is money in the bank. The thing I'm getting at is you don't know how much is profit and how much belongs to those other expenses.

Wow $950 per month. On taxes and accounting, I don't know how Canada works. If you don't know the taxes well, it's probably worth paying someone. That's what I'd do to start and once I understood it I'd try to find a software package that would let me manage the books. Then have a tax preparer do the taxes.

Sounds like you're doing well. Congratulations.

Prairie Boy · Jul 21, 2011

BigJohn54 said: ↑

I didn't say that very well. All those items are paid for and there is money in the bank. The thing I'm getting at is you don't know how much is profit and how much belongs to those other expenses.

Wow $950 per month. On taxes and accounting, I don't know how Canada works. If you don't know the taxes well, it's probably worth paying someone. That's what I'd do to start and once I understood it I'd try to find a software package that would let me manage the books. Then have a tax preparer do the taxes.

Sounds like you're doing well. Congratulations.
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QuickBooks or Simply Accounting (Sage) are both very user friendly.

BigJohn54 · Jul 21, 2011

Prairie Boy said: ↑

QuickBooks or Simply Accounting (Sage) are both very user friendly.
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I'm not familar with Sage but QuickBooks is good. I'm going for a trucking software package this time that tracks all aspects of the operation.

G/MAN suggested something that looked good but I can't remember what it was or find my notes. Old-timers I guess.

lostNfound · Jul 22, 2011

BigJohn54 said: ↑

I'm not familar with Sage but QuickBooks is good. I'm going for a trucking software package this time that tracks all aspects of the operation.

G/MAN suggested something that looked good but I can't remember what it was or find my notes. Old-timers I guess.
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Ask and ye shall receive.

G/MAN said: ↑

Are you wanting software to do just taxes or to keep records? If you just want something for the taxes then any software that does taxes would work. If you are looking for software to keep the books, then you may want to check Trucknpro. www.foglinesoftware. I have used it for several years and just got an update for 2011. I have owned a couple of software packages specific to the trucking industry and prefer Trucknpro, primarily due to it's simplicity. It will do about everything you need other than calculate the fuel taxes and invoicing. It does have the routing. It will track truck expenses, maintenance, etc., on both truck and trailer. It also has the capability of being used for kilometers or miles or percentage on income calculations. I like the way you can print out reports. One nice feature is that you can immediately see how well you are doing. You can have as many trucks and trailers without having to pay more money. They offer a trial version you can try online.

I have also owned Easy Trucking Software. www.easytrucking.com. It will do everything including calculating IFTA miles and invoicing. There are features that I like about this software, but it is not as user friendly as Trucknpro. Unless you really need the IFTA calculations you may want to consider the Trucknpro. Easy Trucking limits the number of trucks you can put into their software to five, although they do offer a version that you can add up to 100, as I recall. The problem with their owner operator version is that if you have more turnover you will need to delete information on some drivers in order to make the software work properly unless you purchase the more expensive version. The only difference between the two is the number of trucks you can have in the program. They used to offer a trial version.

One other that I have tried is Truckers Helper. www.truckershelper.com. They have several versions available from driver to small fleet owner. I like some of the features which includes dot compliance and several ways to calculate payroll or driver compensation. Some people feel that it is a bit more complex to use than the other two I noted. Depending on the version, it will do most everything you need. At one time they had a trial version you can download online.

One advantage of all three of these programs are that they were developed by truckers for truckers. There are some other programs, but these are the ones that I am most familiar. I have a couple of friends that purchased the Trucknpro program.

An advantage of buying a trucking specific program is that it already has what you need separated. It helps to keep specific expenses separate. All accounting or bookkeeping are pretty much the same. Trucking does have some unique things and it does save time in set up and helps you avoid something that might be otherwise missed. You can use a spreadsheet, but that usually require a little time to set everything up and there is always a chance that you will miss something.

As far as depreciation is concerned. You should be able to deduct all sales tax and fees related to your purchase. My state exempts sales tax on class 8 vehicles. I have not seen the current depreciation schedule, but you should be able to go to the IRS website and read the 2010 booklet. www.irsforms.com. For several years under the Bush administration you could deduct the entire purchase price of any equipment up to a certain amount of money, even if you paid cash. Some other things you can deduct are the 2290 heavy highway use tax. Another are the base plates, permits, UCR, etc., Trucking has a per diem that you can deduct for every day you are on the road if you don't want to keep track of your receipts.
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BigJohn54 · Jul 22, 2011

lostNfound said: ↑

Ask and ye shall receive.
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Thank you Sir. That is the exact post I was thinking of. Trucknpro was what I was considering.

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