O/O wanabe...Are my figures correct?

Some on here might disagree with this, but if I were you, I would leave that 50k in the bank, and find a company with a 12 mo walkaway lease program. The reason I say that is it will give you a realworld taste of what it is gonna be like before you get so heavily invested into it with your own money and get stuck. Who knows, you might go a few months and be like "the hell with this" and you can walk away and go back to driving company. If you do like it, then at the end of the lease you can walk away from it and have gotten real world experience of working for yourself and know exactly of what you're in for and will have made some cash to add to that 50k. And who knows, if you had a good truck that you liked on the lease you could buy that one. I did a lease on a 2004 379 Pete that was going for 70k on the truck lots and could have bought it outright at the end of the lease for 36k. You'd be hard pressed to find a better deal than that.

 

what exactly is real world about a lease purchase??? lol

 

I ain't being a smart ###,but I think my Vegas idea was a safer bet RIGHT NOW....Can't say about tomorrow,but right now odds are`WAY against him...Those lease programs will just get in your picnic basket for you REAL good if you don't watch it.I've never done it, but ask a few other members on here about that crap before you think about going that road.

 

Do i miss something here ? He is estimating 7000 $ for 10 000 miles and u say thats low ? I am lost here, i guess i missed something.:smt017

Brother, if u are spending 7000 $ for 10 000 miles, dont be an O/O. It shouldnt be more than 5500-6000 for 10K miles at most if u dont get ####y on the road and hammer down.

Drive 60 mph, you will save fuel almost equal to a truck payment every mounth. Loads can not be delivered on time by driving fast, just dont trash arround too much, when u hit the road drive at least 8-9 hours. You can easily make 650 miles a day by driving slow.

I used to drive 70- 75 mph too, but after fuel prices i had to slow down my butt. And fuel prices will never go down, in fact this is just the beginning. " Everything goes up, must come down" theory doesnt work for fuel prices.

 

Have you talked to ATS?

 

I crunch numbers from time to time and here is what I have come up with. This covers everything a company driver can get at a good company. Why an o/o would settle for less than a company driver gets is beyond my comprehension and one of the main reasons I am currently a company driver rather than an owner op.

I did not see anywhere in your list anything for benefits or retirement or replacement of the vehicle.

New truck =.25 cpm
Fuel at 4.25 per gallon at 6.25 mpg=.68 cpm
Wages=.40 cpm
Benefits (paid by company 100% deductible) medical, dental, vision, disability, life, sick days, personal days, holidays, 4 weeks vacation.=.10 cpm
Retirement (fully funded by company contributions)=.10cpm
Misc operating expenses (tolls, lumpers, scales, truck washes, pre-pass, qualcomm, trip pak, etc)=.10cpm
Maintenance fund (to cover pm's, oil, washer fluid, anti freeze, additives, breakdowns, tires, etc)=.08cpm
Plates, Permits, road use taxes, fuel taxes, 2290=.05cpm
Bobtail, collision, liability insurance=.05 cpm
Payroll taxes=.03 cpm

By owning the truck in advance rather than financing it you could save .20 to .25 cpm on your operating costs and figure in some of the above benefits including your cpa and cell phone.

I think realistically your operating expenses would be $1.50 minimum. Of course you should make a profit on your hard work as well so be sure you are paying yourself not only a fair wage but banking as much as you can on top of that.

I do not see companies offering to pay 1.50 per mile PLUS fuel surcharge for dry van freight. The most I have seen is about .90 cpm plus the fuel surcharge which would make about 1.25 per mile.

Alot of veteran owner ops in here are hurting big time. Some have even admitted to going out of business due to the cost of fuel. What will you do differently from all these others?

The question then becomes what do you sacrifice to drive your own truck?

Your free time?
Benefits?
Retirement?
Lie on your taxes or forget to pay them altogether?


Only you can answer these questions (for yourself).

 

WOW! Scary stuff. But I'm doing the same thing now. I had 10 years experience but that was 10 years ago. Same principles apply today, just now everything costs more but the freight pays more... When I started out there was no internet to locate a large pool of mentors like the ones on this site. This is a BIG advantage, if you can separate the wheat from the chaff

 

One this as well is that if you are an O/O you will be paying out of pocket for health insurance... unless you are married and the wife has good bennies.

 

Having read most of your posts why do you even comment in an O/O forum. Every post has been putting someone down about being an O/O.
I'd rather dig a ditch than kiss a managers donkey! Obviously you are not a very good business man and need someone to hold your hand rather than deciding your own fate. Hey the world needs trained monkey's too!!!