1.5-2yr experience driver looking to buy first truck

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by mbodall, Feb 12, 2018.

  1. Zaros

    Zaros Light Load Member

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    read like 34 pages. Pretty good stuff. Knew a lot of it already like the driving habits and what not but still good nonetheless thanks for sharing. I've becoming a bit interested in being an ownerop if im going to continue driving.
     
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  3. mud23609

    mud23609 Medium Load Member

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    On the linehaul comment. You do indeed have enough experience to get a position running linehaul at most tlk companies.

    As for wanting to be an owner o.p. It's doable. The first thing you need to do though is write out a good business plan. Most new businesses fail and the chance of failure increases exponentially without a solid and well thought out business plan.
     
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  4. Oldironfan

    Oldironfan Road Train Member

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    Stay away from def trucks.
     
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  5. Hurst

    Hurst Registered Member

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    Not sure what advise I can give that will mean anything.

    If you want to try operating as an O/O then go for it. But you must understand,.. driving is the easy part. Once you decide to go it on your own,.. it becomes a business. Every piece of equipment including the truck becomes a tool in order to provide a service. You need to understand the behind the scenes business that most company drivers know nothing about. Where do the loads come from? How to set rates and stay profitable with out leaving money on the table. Where to find loads? Where and how to find customers? Who is a potential customer? What segment of trucking will yield the best return? What area to live in and where to operate? Which lanes offer the best rates? How to create your own lanes. How and where to buy a truck. How to spec a truck for a specific job.

    There is so much more. Right now you feel comfortable behind the wheel. The excitement is still fresh. Owning and being responsible for EVERTHING adds a bit of stress and takes some of the fun away when dealing with the ups and downs that come with doing your own thing. So learn as much as you can and DO NOT,... buy a truck until you know where and how your going to make money with it. Like set in stone,.. money. Find the work first,. then buy the equipment to get the work done.

    Hurst
     
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  6. kf4pwb

    kf4pwb Light Load Member

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    I started mine with 0 yrs and 0 days experience driving a truck. Need capital and a plan. work the plan. Having the tolerance for risk is another issue. Feel free to reach out to me and I can share our financial model
     
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  7. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    First off -your buddy/mentor is a good egg. If he doesn't have a dog in the fight, then he is simply trying to help. Obviously sees something in you you don't/or haven't realized.

    People that helped me out to start with are on this forum - gave me passwords, keys and tools to nail down figures. After they figured I wasn't an idiot.

    Skip the 2014, and go for the pre 2003, reconditioned truck. If reefer, sink your financing into a new, or very near new trailer. A used reefer with problems may be more than your business model can handle coupled with an older truck.

    I used to run linehaul with ODFL - I realize you can generate nice safe company $$ in that line, but you may want more out of life.

    As said above - it's an all consuming business, it never leaves you. I post my numbers on my thread, so you can see my 3 year curve. though it's a different trailer/model, it may be useful to you.

    Never doubt yourself.

    Good luck.
     
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  8. mbodall

    mbodall Bobtail Member

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    Ok, so thanks to everyone that contributed. Because getting a pre-emissions truck sounds very unappealing given the age and probable condition of a truck of that vintage, I think I may just bump my budget up $10,000-$15,000 and see if I can get into a truck 2-3 years old with ~300,000 miles so I’ll be less likely to have to deal with an aging, out of warranty DPF/DEF system. Hopefully I’ll be able to run it for a year or two and make enough money to put a decent down payment on a brand new truck
     
  9. Mooseontheloose

    Mooseontheloose Light Load Member

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    Dave at smart trucking.com has a Utube channel with a lot of informative videos. I would suggest subscribing to his channel and listening to his videos. I listen while driving. He is a big proponent of tankers. He’s not real big on the current atmosphere of O/O but discusses almost all aspects of the biz. Good suggestion Eph trucker!
     
  10. hellpatrol

    hellpatrol Light Load Member

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    It is better to have tried and failed, then to have never tried at all.
    That being said, make sure you can cover your ### if it does fail.
    Good luck and ignore the naysayers, they just hate seeing people doing more than they did.
     
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  11. Sandman 660

    Sandman 660 Light Load Member

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    Jul 15, 2017
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    The first thing you need to realize about financing your own truck is that without three years of experience most commercial lenders won't offer you a loan. More than likely a credit union does not offer commercial loans unless they deal with Farmers or farming equipment. There are lenders out there who will work with you but you're going to have to bring a lot of money to the table in the form of a down payment.
    Your credit score is in an excellent range for getting approved for a loan but again you lack experience and that's usually the deal-breaker. In some instances you can get a cosigner with an equal or better credit score that I'll help get you into a truck with little experience.
    Pretty much everything that guy is telling you is spot-on but you have to remember a few things. What the truck earns is not what you earn. A truck in the five hundred thousand mile range is going to be right at the age where lots of stuff's going to break I know because I own my own truck. The DPF system is the first thing that's got to go and I would highly recommend that if you buy a truck that has one of those systems you do the DPF delete immediately they range between $3,500 and $7,000 depending on how far you go with it and who does the work. I would never operate a truck with that system on it is only going to cause you misery so that's the first thing you need to consider.
    I'm pretty sure you're smart enough to know that you never take a lease purchase either so we don't even need to go into that.
    I would put down about $10,000 if you're looking in the five hundred thousand mile range and you should be able to get a truck from between 40 to $60,000.
    Then you want to do a thorough inspection on the hubs and also you'll probably need a valve adjustment right out of the gate because more often than not people don't actually do valve adjustments on their trucks so the truck is probably going to be in bad shape when you get it even if it looks good. The next major thing is the rubber. If you buy a truck you need to make sure that you find one that has the highest quality rubber possible or the dealer is willing to put those on the truck for you before you drive off the lot. You don't want to be a month or two months down the road trying to figure out how you're going to spend $6,000 for all new tires for your truck.
    If I were you I would start out with the truck first and don't buy a trailer immediately unless you're working for a company that pays by load percentage. Also operating under your own authority isn't much more bookkeeping than being a regular owner operator but you need to make sure that you're able to do the book work yourself. You also need to be cognizant of how you set your LLC up because I can assure you that going sole proprietor is the wrong route.
    I'm only a one truck company so I set up my LLC with an S corp designation to save money on FICA and Medicare taxes. That's entirely up to you what you want to do but you need to be ahead of the curves on your bookkeeping. If you have a spouse that can do the bookkeeping for you that's the way to go.
    You also want to make sure that your truck is spect for the kind of work that you're going to do.
    This includes several things such as if you're going to pull reefer, or dry van you're going to need a Windjammer on top of your truck. You also want to make sure that your gear ratios on your rear end or well suited for how you plan on driving as well as how you have your engine turned up or down regarding horsepower. Having big rubber is also another Money Saver instead of running tuna 22 and 1/2 in you could run 24 and a half inch tires and rims Les rotation saves money.
    Also having your horsepower turned up with something like a 3:26 rear end and big rubber is a really great combination for hauling stuff like that. You could go on for days figuring that stuff out.
    There's no one right answer but there's a lot of things you can do when you spec your truck so that you have the best possible combinations for how you plan on hauling.
    The other thing you want to consider in that mileage range is at that truck is going to break down and you don't want to be paying interest on the repairs so forget about the credit cards. You need to actually set up a slush fund or a maintenance account to cover your ### so that you're not paying interest when the breakdowns do happen.
    The best option that I found out they're short of getting my own authority as working on load percentage for companies like Mercer who have great reputations. If you bring your own trailer and truck into that organization you'll make a lot of money and you'll do a lot of work for the Department of Defense and you'll work international.
    If you have your own authority you're going to be the sole person under the microscope when the. Looks at you and there's no one to get your back. You need to really consider that before committing to getting your own authority.
    Portland isn't exactly a freight town in fact the whole West Coast - Los Angeles is pretty much a black hole for freight. There's no Freight traffic is heavy and the speed limits are all turn down to 55 for trucks not exactly a winning combination. Probably the best place in the country for Freight is in Texas.
    You live in a really bad location to be an owner operator but it is possible day eke out a living I just wouldn't plan on making very much. It really depends on what kind of freight you haul.
    Once you commit to buying a truck you're all in and there's no turning back and believe me it's a pain in the ### when things go wrong. I have a strong Constitution so I deal with the calamities as they occur but not everybody's built like me. It can psychologically wear you down and really ruin your day so you need to be prepared for that there's going to be lots of headaches lots of problem lots of time away from home and lots of bookkeeping that you're not going to want to do but have to do.
    If you have a wife and kids I wouldn't do it. I've known my wife my whole life and I love her to death but I'd really like to see her more than a couple times a month and you might feel the same way.
    The biggest piece of advice I could give you is don't be short-sighted and get into it for the money because the money takes a long time to come and it's done through lots of effort and countless days away from home. It's a huge responsibility and it comes with a massive burden oftentimes in ways you don't expect. I'm not saying don't do it but the numbers that he's throwing at you or the numbers of a guy who's 50 years old and been doing it for 20 years. Those aren't the numbers of a 30 year old guy who's got a year in the driver's seat.
    I'd say by a truck but don't buy it from somebody like MHC or another McDonalds like franchise where they just turn and burn the trucks. I'd look for my truck in the Laredo Texas area. The dealerships down there for some reason actually do really good business and can get you a decent loan interest rate wise.
    Again don't get into it for the money because until you figure out how to run your business you're not going to have any idea of how to make money. That's a process that takes time and experience and you're not going to have any of that. You're probably a really smart dude and you'll figure it out fast I'm just trying to give you a caution so that you really think it through before you do it. Good luck man I wish you the best
     
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