How d I get a truck?

Put money in bank. Save it. Rinse and repeat till you can afford to own your truck.

 

I'm no expert, but based on your experience, you might want to get a couple years in before taking on a truck. What is driving you to ownership? There are so many ways to make good money in this industry without taking the absolute highest risk that is ownership. I started van, did reefer and bulk. I am a company driver. I make a pretty decent living and I'm home all the time. I would like to be an owner some day however I'm not rushing into it. I'm holding out for more experience and to narrow down exactly what I will haul, where I will focus on and having as much money as possible to operate it with, eight grand is not much in business.

 

Your going to need more than $9,000 to start with. That will go very very quick.

 

Run a free credit report, challenge any incorrect information, approach creditors and arrange drip feed payments for any outstanding debt.

Open and hold 2 credit cards. Use a third of the limit, and immediately pay off.

Save all your $$ you can. You’ll need to buy the truck cash. Plan on $15k for purchase.

Use RigDig, an oil sample, and an independent inspection to carefully choose a truck.

Keep asking questions, and research here.

What does your business plan/model look like so far? Income requirements - debt servicing - freight type - etc?

 

You'll want about $30,000 cash up front to buy the truck, then about $30,000 cash in the bank to repair the truck (or replace it with another $30,000 truck if something greater than $10,000 breaks).

Any less than that, and you are asking for bankruptcy.

Also, don't settle for cheap freight. You won't make money pulling a box. Sign on to a flatbed company and don't get your own authority right away. No one will send their products with you if they can't trust you to get the job done.

 

Big risk man big risk HOWEVER if youre 100% going to do it against advice from knowledgeable guys here you can Look at Lone Mountain Lease Purchases. You can get into a truck for as low as like 3k. Usually trucks bought from mega carriers so its a roll of the dice on quality

 

We went in with low debt/income ratio, and our backup was ‘available low cost credit’ - knowing our living expenses and debt were well below the average.

Though @Zeviander ’s figures appear scary - it is closer to the safe truth than “We’ll just hope nothing breaks”.

Remember - this is a high failure rate business. Preparation is your only insurance.

 

Side note @RoadRunner84 - this is a much better question than the usual -

“What’s the best Lease Purchase “

“I don’t want an old worn out truck - I wanna new one”

“My credit is bad, I have no cash, my driving record ain’t great, but I want to be an owner operator “.

It’s refreshing. My personal opinion is a pre 2003 truck is the better option. Old don’t mean worn out.

This here, is 22 years old. Does it look worn out to anybody?





You don’t need 10 years driving experience to do this, you need a mind like a sponge, a small ego, tons of research and a business plan.

 

OP some of the best free advice you will ever get is posted above.