Thinking of buying my own truck,need info about everything ratio,horsepower,MPG

Figure out what type of work you will do. Then figure out how you will setup a profitable business doing it. Buying equipment is just one part of setting up your business. Don't go out and buy one and think you will just start raking in money. You won't.

There is not one combination truck that can be used in every application. For example, an oilfield truck would not do well doing coast to coast work. The coast to coast truck would fail miserably at heavy haul. The heavy haul truck would not be suitable for applications where you are paid by weight. Catch my drift?

 

If you haven't narrowed any of that down yourself by now, maybe you should.

 

Wow almost daily search search search It on the top right of the page.........

 

First thing, don't use your real name. Although Jeff is my name. Lets make sure no one can find out any personal information about us.

You are doing correct by asking for information before buying a truck. You are going to get lots of negative answers but press right on in. "Seabees" being part of the Navy will require us to use small words so if we forget to, have a dictionary handy.

Owning a truck and having your own authority is the highest percentage of profitability. 100% is yours. But so is the risk and the labor. You have tons of paperwork. Working as a company driver does not prepare you for all that. So first thing I recommend is to join OOIDA. Take advantage of their Educational series. It is on their website and it is FREE to anyone. The information is basic but it will give you an idea of what to ask.

I recommend that before you jump into your own authority you do six months time with Hirschbach. They are a reefer company and they hire "owner operators" by way of a "lease purchase." It is my firm belief that trying to acquire a truck by way of "lease purchase" is a very bad idea. Why you should work for a time with Hirschbach is just to see how they do business. They pay you around $1.10 a mile or so and then take everything out of your check so you can get an idea of how much your authority is going to cost you. They run their trucks at 60 mph. They let the owner operators run at 64 miles per hour. The trucks and trailers have flow below systems and wind channeling to increase fuel economy. You should model yourself on what they do.

There is a thread on becoming and owner operator with your own authority that is really good on here so I will just point you in that direction.

 

www.OOIDA.com - start here.

You can save on fuel costs by pulling empty trailers all over the country. Trailer Transit is that type of company.
Buy a fancy used truck from Melton Truck Lines and get started. Tripac APU included.

 

Owning a truck and having you own authority does not mean you have the highest precentage of profitability.

Buying a truck is not like buying a car. First figure out what you are going to do and then follow the due diligence to find one that will work for you without costing you a lot of money. It is a process that costs money, expect to spend from $400 to $700 to go through the process for each truck.

 

Hello, I might have some information for you.
Owning a truck is a great idea, I totally support it. If you have never owned one before you should consider leasing on to somebody first. That way somebody can show you what needs to be done in order to be compliant and it is much safer to be leased to a company in case something happens to your truck.
If you have any questions fell free to contact me. My name is Oleg

 

I think the OP is doing his (or her) due diligence and asking questions on an open trucking forum, you are being proactive and seeing the people who have gone before you, I commend your efforts.
I's learn as much as you can from here: the different types of trucking and transportation, the various types of equipment associated with delivering freight you might be interested in hauling. Once you have narrowed down the type of haul, you can focus on researching whether or not you have the required capital to start up your own thing or, perhaps, lease on someplace for a few years.

Remember trucking is a process and when you approach it from a business standpoint you will generally do better when you make educated, informed business decisions not based on emotion or what you might have heard in a truck stop. Knowledge is power and learning as much as you can here will help you along your journey.

Before you think of venturing out on your own, you should know and understand:
Trucks, Trailers, what heat does to oil, the engine..etc. operating authority, MC numbers, drug consortium, billing, factoring, IFTA, insurance, the legal side of trucking, what type of marketing you plan on employing, will you have a website associated with your business? What will be your terms? (for billing) Do you plan on being a sole proprietor, LLC, incorporate? What tax structure will you fall under? Will you employ people, offer benefits? What happens when you blow your engine over 1000 miles away from your home terminal? Who do you call? Will you belong to a national tire account service? Are you planning on setting up national accounts for oil changes, washes? Are you planning on running local, regional, OTR? How much of your profits are you willing to reinvest back into your business?
I could go on and on but I think you get the point: the physical part of trucking is such a tiny, although important, part of the transportation puzzle, there is a lot of behind the scenes work going on before any truck shows up to haul a load.

Best of luck. BTW: you should plan on spending 18 to 20 hours a day working on your business if you plan on being successful. Have fun.

 

Hi Oleg. My name is Oleg I am from UKRAINE. I am driving for BURRIS LOGISTICS this is in DELAWARE. I made $87,000 a year company Driver. But, BURRIS loose contract with The FRESH Market. So I will DRIVE for BURRIS to February 2018. I know it is not possible to find another company like this One to make huge MONEY. So I want to but my TRUCK. Oleg please call me or text. My phone Thank you brother.