HELP WITH START UP

There is not a shortage of drivers, that is just total bs.

If you want advice. Then here it is and you won't like it.

It takes more than buying a truck and sticking a driver in it. It takes some knowledge of the industry outside being a broker, like actually driving a truck. Without some of that knowledge, you will end up being part of the 65% of first year failures and if you are lucky to make it the second year, then you may be part of the 80% failures.

No matter, you need capital, working capital to be there for reserves like wages and such and you need to show anyone you are asking for money that it is there. Then you need to buy trucks, which in truth is cheap. But the problem is you need to have money to check them out, around $500 is minimal, so knowing most are cheap and willing to take a chance with the issue of a breakdown. If the truck isn't rolling, it ain't making money. Banks and other Lenders will closely look at you and your operation not as a trucking company but as you as an individual with no experience.

So my advice is take time to learn the industry by being a driver, being a broker is easy, hell some of the dumbest people I know are freight brokers. Being a driver can be hard to learn tings quickly so I would just stay as a broker if you just want to own a trucking company.

 

Have you started by getting insurance quotes? That might be your first main obstacle.

One thing you could try would be to find someone who is retiring, wants out of the business, etc, and see if you could get them act as the bank if they own the truck out right.

 

Well alright then pal, good luck.

 

The shortage is due to low pay, poor benefits, and a way for the industry to ask for, and get more H1B Visa holders. The industry asks drivers to stay away from home for weeks, no guaranteed home time even when you schedule it, and very few protections from employers. Not everyone is cut out to drive OTR, or drive regionally or locally, but you have to ask yourself why out of every 100 people hired in a year, only 1 or 2 are left at the end of the year. If the industry was really interested in solving the shortage, they would pay a 3rd party to find out why so many leave, and look at stemming the bleed, but they don't. Their answer is, just hire more and complain about it.

 

I'm not here to bash anybody but the difference in American drivers and European drivers and owners is. People from Europe are hard working and have better work ethic than Americans. Not all Americans but most

 

Uh oh, get ready...

 

Now that I think of it, why don't you ask those hard working Europeans you tender loads to if they'll fund your new trucking venture