Give me the truth please...

I guess the OP abandoned the idea. Maybe he realized most of the people telling him that he should go for it were company drivers lol

 

If the wannabe is even still reading this thread... camaro68 gave you the best answer! Wish someone would have suggested that to me, lol. You had a lot of really experienced people on here give you some really good advice but your response of knowing so much from what your wife sees indicates you didn't come on here to get advice and make a decision based on it. Judging from that, you will learn the hard way.

$100,000 saved up? Whoopdedoo! That's nothing and you will pi$$ through that faster than you think. You need to have that just as your reserve and operating capital for just a couple of trucks. If you spend it all up front to buy a truck or trucks and have nothing left but generated revenue to covered expenses and operating cash flow, plan on taking half your current salary to float your business. One truck running OTR with a hired driver in the seat will cost you $1.10 a mile just in fuel and driver expense. At 2,500 miles a week, that's $2,750 a week (the equivalent of $143,000 a year). Figure you are getting net 30 from your shippers or brokers, and you need $11,000 operating capital to float your A/R. Someone pays slower than that and you can increase that amount.

If you buy used trucks and trailers, depending on how much cash you put down, figure $1,500 to $2,500 a month per truck and trailer, add $500 to $800 a month for insurance and you're starting to feel the love. Oh and those $40K to $60K used trucks... there's a reason the fleets sell them before they hit 500K miles. The saying I heard too late was the first 500K miles the truck pays you, the second 500K miles, you pay the truck. Expect a lot of maintenance expense on stuff that has just worn out. And you need to know trucks and maintenance because half the idiots at shops don't. Did you know there is an air filter for the A/C? Don't change it regularly and you can spend $2K to $3K to replace the blower and regulator. Don't know that wheel bearings will loosen or wear on a trailer? Go through $2.5K to $5K worth of tires and you will. Have multiple trucks? Multiply these lessons by the number of trucks and you can start to get an idea. Do you even know what an EGR cooler is and what it cost to replace? Or an EGR valve? Commercial trucks are not like your car. You don't just buy it and then get the oil changed at Jiffy Lube every couple of months.

And if you decide to go the new truck route, buy one with a color you like looking at because going into this business with no contacts, no committed freight, no cash (after buying the truck and the upfront starting costs) and you realize what a mistake going in with no experience has been, at least you'll have a fun expensive play toy in a color you really like. It's either that or take a $40K loss on the depreciated value if you sell it.

Driving the truck yourself? The posters are correct. You're nursing hours do count towards your total hours for DOT. At 36 hours a week, it's not an issue for you. With your time constraints, you probably can only run local so you'll not be logging hours if you stay close to home, just time sheets. Have you considered what will happen to your nursing job if you get injured trucking?

And hiring drivers. Sheesh. So much I could say about that but everyone else already has. As a little company, you have to have a reason for drivers to want to work for you. Good benefits and lots of pay. It's a transient profession where the grass is always greener. What, $.02 a mile more at X company and home every weekend? Gone. Will they be home every weekend? Rarely and they'll start looking for the next job. As for you however, you're truck is motionless, payments continue without income and you're scrambling to get another butt in the seat. Can it affect your hiring judgement as you lose money? You betcha. Find a great driver and get him home every weekend then when freight shifts and you need to keep him on the road for a couple weeks, it's company X again. As for taking care of the truck and the maintenance while they are on the road, you'll be lucky to find ones that will. Did you know the national average for driver turnover is over 100% right now?

Please take the advice of the 'naysayers' in this thread. They know what they are talking about. You make good money at what you do. Going into a depreciating asset-based, commoditized, compressed margin industry without direct experience in the industry is going to be the most expensive lesson you will ever learn in your life. It doesn't seem like you even know what a freight lane is. Next thread you post, ask how many O/O's will take a load to New Mexico. Why? Because of the freight going out from there.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck. Remember these threads so when you look back on things a few years from now, you can either say "ha! I showed them" or "sheesh, wish I would have listened".

 

My suggestion is to wait and get your retirement first, then u can go buy a nice used truck and do what you want. You'll have that extra income from your retirement and also our medical coverage. You can be a leisure trucker and actually enjoy it.

The key to success is to plan, plan, and do more planning. Research all you can about the situation, and then plan some more.

Best of luck to you in whatever you decide

 

that's what i thought.