How does Owner-Op work?

Alternator just went out and your 300 miles in the middle of nowhere at night, wait, no biggie let the APU take over until morning and a local NAPA can be found.
Trailer you just picked up, lights are bad, fix it and move on.
Pheasant just hit your mirror, can you repair with duct tap,,,, hey it happened to me.
Turbo out, keep a spare and change her out.
List goes on
But doable!!

 

6 months capital on hand. Better than trying to feed off a credit line. That's what? 70,000 in today's money ready to go?

 

I would say more like 4 months would be on the under side of 70K; but I tend to forecast on the side of caution.

 

It's a good thing trucking provides a big return on your money. I mean what other industry allows someone without a high school education to make over $100,000 a yr take home.

 

I just paid $6,000for 2011 tri pak apu from omaha trermo king

 

That was one of the reasons I got into it, Baltimore's massive industry was gutting before my eyes. Pepsi bottling was closed in the harbor and converted to a stack of small boat docks while the shipyard next to it was trimmed down for a condo tower.

Eventually most harborside industry was replaced with condos which began instantly to price everyone like me out of housing. Only the well to do got to life there. It's one way to try and clean out the riff raff...

 

in conclusion do your home work...ton of usefull info in this forum..and make sure you have ton of $$$$ if you thinking of being an owner operator.

 

Ok got to correct you.

It may be something that bothers me a bit but leasing means you are leased to a company like say landstar or whom ever. You get revenue for the work you do for that company and all the expenses are yours.

Lease Purchase is where you are an employee and go into an agreement to rent a truck for a specific amount of time of which you end up with it at the end of the agreement and pay it off through using your employer as a revenue source.

I was an owner operator who was leased to a couple companies. I wasn't an independent with my own authority. I became a fleet owner who lease his trucks to different companies and bought another company to expand my fleet and it has an authority tied to it, so I can be independent.

 

@double yellow has the best thread you'll ever find on his journey as an independent owner operator.

For leasing on to a big company @blairandgretchen and @sawmill both have great threads about their experiences with Landstar.

Read those and you will have a much better understanding than anyone replying here can try to give you.

 

There are different KINDS of owner operators.
There are those who use a carriers trucking authority, insurance, customers..etc and choose loads offered from their customers. Carriers most often advance fuel money to the O/O and off they go.

Then there is the Independent O/O who owns his/her own trucking authority, creates a business structure, has their own customers, insurance, etc...and relies on their own business intelligence to operate.

Both business platforms have pros and cons. I admire your post to learn about trucking before ruining your life or credit.

Best of luck.