How do you make more money as an O/O than as a company driver?

What type of Owner Operator? The "leased on" owner operators can only haul freight for the company that they are leased too, in short the company has to get their cut of the profit too.

Owner Operator with their own authority can haul for anyone willing to pay for the haul. If you use a broker they will get their cut, but its kind of your own business.

 

Well the one way is as an employee of any company you have to pay what is called "earned" income tax and Social Security, which equals 33.5% of all you income.

As a business owner (owner/operator) you have to is called "pasted thru taxation" or the technical term is "non-earned" income tax which is different based on how much money you make, for the most part it is 12-15% and as long as you roll that excess money back into you company you could in fact never pay taxes again if you have an account who specializes in trucking.

That's just the most common way to make money as an o/o.

 

You have to get good rates and you have to stand firm on getting them. Negotiate. The reason most owner ops do not clear as well as company drivers is because they are captive slaves to a contract that conveniently, for the companies they're leased to, not allowed to negotiate anything. And so they work very hard for very little if any reward having taken on most of the risk. Sound like a fun way to run a truck?

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o/o's make more yes. but it all depends on the truck.

if the truck constantly breaks down. then no, you'll make less.

and if your renting your truck from a mega. your not an o/o. your a rental operator. hauling there loads. and doing it for less money. while paying more money for the weekly expenses.

 

I am a "lease operator" (not a lease purchase operator) and a friend of mine is a company driver at the same company, he paid tax on $55,000.00 I paid on 71,000, he worked 321 days, I worked 271, we basically do the same job he just does it more. On lease purchase, I have never seen one (I'm not saying they aren't out there I just haven't seen 1) that isn't just a company driver paying all the bills on "his" truck. It all comes down how you look at it, some will say that 14,000 isn't enough difference to be worth it. But some will say I made 90.00 a day more and was home 50 more days, and that is worth it,(IMO) every ones needs and or wants are different it all comes back to what works best for you.

 

Some good info here. Thanks for y'alls input.

 

Not everyone who goes out and buys a truck will make money. Some will make more than being a company driver, some will make less and some will go broke. I make more owning trucks than if I were a company driver. That is not the case with everyone who owns a truck. There is an opportunity to make more money, but if all you are doing is making payments and only earning drivers wages, I don't think that it is worth the extra work and headache of owning a truck. When you buy a truck you also assume greater responsibilities. You are the one who is then responsible for your success of failure. You won't go broke as a company driver. You risk nothing to drive a truck owned by someone else. You could risk everything when you buy a truck. There can be tax advantages as a truck owner that a driver won't be available to a company driver.

 

Also consider the benefits that as an O/O you will have to pay for yourself especially health insurance if you have a family.

 

As a company driver I veraged 30K when I was leased to USA Truck I made 106K. But alot of that 106k went to truck repair fuel and other exspenses