So you want to "own " your own company

Lease onto say landstar and pull a van
You wont have a tralier payment. Save up that way then buy your own outright to get the extra % of pay.

 

No thx to leasing on to Anybody. But I will keep you posted on everything. Things are changing fast around here. Right now, it looking like I can pay for truck and trailer and still have 10k left over if the bank approves my loan. State farm says 640$/mth 2months dwn payment for S.E full coverage. Still working on trailer leasing companies,

 

A dry van will be hell trying to make it. You would be much better off with a reefer. I'm sure reefer pays WAY better bringing produce to the NE. That's not to say dry van is impossible, but for the one truck show I would never even consider it. You will have to sell your customers on service, the big players will always be able to beat you on price. Trying to have the lowest price is just a race to the bottom. The only way I can see to make money in dry van is when the demand is there and there isn't a big company to haul it. In reefer when you prove you are there on time you WILL get the call before the big carrier because they know you will deliver on time and they pay for it.

 

That would be cool if you could show me a way to pay for it in my budget. I'm all ears. And I have considered it, but I don't see how it fits. I only have the 24k to work with. How would you fit it in the budget gokiddogo?

 

It may much more of a challenge trying to make it with a van, but there is plenty of freight for vans. It will be a matter of whether you can make it with the current rates. I have a friend who got rid of his van to buy a step deck. He previously pulled a flat bed. For a while he was getting good rates with a van. Things tend to be very cyclical in this business. There will be freight to haul during the months leading up to Christmas. Christmas trees usually pay well, but you may not be able to stay just in the southeast. You could haul nursery stock in a van, but that is seasonal and most of those loads from the southeast will go to the northeast or Midwest. Before making the jump, I would recommend that you check around some of the loadboards and see what van rates are doing. You will need authority to subscribe to most load boards, but some of the major brokers do have public boards. You can also call some of the major brokers to see what rates that they are seeing. There could also be some power only opportunities once you get your authority. JB Hunt, PTL and some others do have power only opportunities. It is a separate program from their owner operators. Rates are not great, but you might make it work. You basically furnish the power unit and pull their trailers. JB Hunt wants at least a 14 day commitment. I don't know about the others.

 

Anyone in Atlanta that could help with the GA CDL road test? Fully employed and can't afford to stop working and go to driver school for the availability of the truck. I can pay by the hour and it will be decent. PM if interested.

ddhhayes

 

yop, just booked 2 loads this morning and working on a third for a dry van. Pay for the day? $1200 Miles traveled, less than 400 miles.


They called me asking about the third and hinted there might even be a forth.

Not one of them takes me more than 90 miles from the house.

 

That's just your area right? That can't be coming out of atlanta.

 

I just checked two brokers loadboards. One had 87 van loads and the other had 226 within 150 mile radius of Atlanta. I didn't check rates. You usually need to call brokers to get the rate. So, there are loads coming out of the area. It is a matter of finding those that pay well enough and go to areas where rates are high enough to make hauling them worthwhile.

 

Good job, hope that turns into weekly steady option available to you. Will make home time nice. The office help will let slip little in jest comments about being spoiled or lazy LoL.. Good luck.