After two years of company equipment and bs I want to change to oo Ive given myself 2 more years after that I hope to have everything sorted to do this. I am looking for any and all advice on the matter of buying my own truck and running it . Thanks all.
Join OOIDA website. It's a good business organization for the new driver. Only cost about $45.00 a year. If you don't want to wait 2 yrs. to buy a truck, look at Cardinal Logistics website. They will help you purchase a truck and haul their freight and it's NOT a lease. They even give you $2000.00 for the down payment and arrange financing.
What changes will you make as an o/o to eliminate the BS you are putting up with now? What makes you think by owning the truck yourself the BS will magically disappear? What kind of BS are you referring to? Equipment breakdowns/poor maintenance? Office issues? Not enough or poorly scheduled work? Low pay?
Ill start with the easy one, money then follow it with a want to build a reputation.Ive found it hard as a company driver to have much of any good or bad. Next I want to find a customer an out and back type of situation. No more getting lost in the system. Finally by this point you all are laughing and thats cool because the punchline is I want to be my own boss. Ill be back to see how long it takes this to turn around.
Hi mikecpjr, that was a Savoy Brown (later Foghat) song. That sure dates me. I can say, having my own truck was the toughest, yet most rewarding part of my career. Get a decent truck, from the owner, NOT SOME OLD FLEET TRUCK, and make sure you have a good accountant, one that's familiar with trucking. Taxes were the biggest problem for me, never could make my 1/4ly payments, and maintainence. Do everything yourself that you can, as I saved a ton of money doing stuff myself, and be prepared to run, as O/O is pure incentive, and you may have to bend the rules a little to make it. Good luck.
