How to Find Smaller Trucking Companies For Owner Operators?

DrivingForceBehindYou · Sep 14, 2013

heysteveh said: ↑

Thank you for sharing this... it's especially relevant to me since I just arrived at the same conclusion for me and my situation. I applied for my authority on Friday as a sole proprietor and got the numbers on Friday afternoon (not activated yet of course). After reading all the posts on this thread and researching my options out as best I could, I decided that I will probably use a factoring company in the beginning and then wean myself off of that as soon as possible. In the mean time, I applied for and received a great credit card with 0% for 12 months to back me up. I am in process of getting Insurance quotes and so far Progressive is the best deal for me. If I pay them one year up front it saves me over $1000 vs a monthly payment plan AND my favorite part: they will accept my 0% credit card as payment. Since I had my Plates through Landstar, I now have to get set up with new plates through my home State of Arizona. I made a phone call and I will be able to use my 0% credit card as payment. With Landstar they were deducting these two items out of my settlement on a weekly/monthly basis anyway. In effect, I will be financing myself at 0% interest rather then paying interest to someone else. Heck, I wish they would let me buy a trailer on my 0% credit card, I could get a used trailer and finance myself! I am glad that my authority is taking 3-4 weeks because it gives me time to plan out all my details and contact some of the Landstar brokers I know who have already offered to let me run for them. At Landstar we had a fuel program through Comdata where the best deals were usually at T/A & Petro & Sapp Brothers based on "cost plus" pricing. After researching fuel cards it appears NASTC has a fuel card/program that is very similar to this, but it looks like I have to join at a cost of $200-$300 a year (definitely worth it I think). So things are starting to happen!!
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so it was between buying equipment on 0 percent credit card or working for a company that charges 35 percent for filing ifta? why is it if somebody is not happy at Landstar they have to go independent?

heysteveh · Sep 15, 2013

DrivingForceBehindYou said: ↑

so it was between buying equipment on 0 percent credit card or working for a company that charges 35 percent for filing ifta? why is it if somebody is not happy at Landstar they have to go independent?
Click to expand...

I applied for and received a great credit card with 0% for 12 months to back me up. I am in process of getting Insurance quotes and so far Progressive is the best deal for me. If I pay them one year up front it saves me over $1000 vs a monthly payment plan AND my favorite part: they will accept my 0% credit card as payment. Since I had my Plates through Landstar said:

Heck, I wish they would let me buy a trailer on my 0% credit card, I could get a used trailer and finance myself!=Quote]

I just talked to two trailer dealers in town and guess what? They are both willing to accept my 0% credit card for payment in full on a $12,000-$15,000 used trailer purchase... if I pay them an extra 3-4% fee somewhere in the deal.
Click to expand...

I applied for and received a great credit card with 0% for 12 months to back me up. I am in process of getting Insurance quotes and so far Progressive is the best deal for me. If I pay them one year up front it saves me over $1000 vs a monthly payment plan AND my favorite part: they will accept my 0% credit card as payment. Since I had my Plates through Landstar said:

Even with my excellent credit I would not be able to get a commercial loan for anything near that kind of interest rate. Right now there are several credit card companies offering anywhere from 12-18 months 0% interest on a new credit card. With good credit, it's looking like I can pretty much finance myself and have a cushion for my first year in case something goes wrong.

"why is it if somebody is not happy at Landstar they have to go independent?"

I guess because after being at Landstar, any other company's program seems like a step backwards to me.
Click to expand...

DrivingForceBehindYou · Sep 20, 2013

yeah it looks like AZ is not a very hot area figuratively speaking.

skeeter1371 · Nov 5, 2013

Can you help get one started GMAN?

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