How do you become an owner operator?

No person here can answer all of those questions for you without spending hours typing a reply. Do some research online because the amount of information out there is endless. Just do some simple searches on Google for "starting your own trucking company" or "Becoming an owner operator" and you'll get several months worth of reading. Take notes and keep track of the web sites you find useful so you can refer back to them. As you lean more about the process, you can fine tune your questions for the guys here that have been doing it for a while.

Good luck.

 

Here are a few links that will give you a place to start..

http://www.thetruckersplace.com/ownerWrkSheet.aspx

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/6-steps-to-becoming-an-owner-operator/

https://gotruckcapital.com/owner-operator-tips/guide-to-semi-truck-financing-negotiate-with-truck-salesmen/

https://www.overdriveonline.com/partners-in-business-buying-a-truck-vs-leasing/

https://cdl101.com/guide-becoming-owner-operator-trucking-industry/

 

Go to Letstruck.com, Kevin Rutherford teaches all the things you want to know. He has a week long seminar in September that covers all the things you need to know. He also has an online University that you can participate in. There is an App called AudioRoad that has all his radio shows on it if you want to listen to his show.

 

You night find this useful also:

http://rawze.com/book/The First Time Class-8 Lease-Purchase Owner-Op Guide.pdf

 

I cannot post a adequate reply. But I will show you a little bit of how i bought a tractor for a short time back in the day.

There was a tiny company that strictly takes people who want to become owner operators in 4 years flat about three hollars east of Chambersburg give or take a few. It was a extremely structured situation where once you signed for a tractor you now have to go find freight, a company to run that with and then go through 4 years with this particular outfit, hopefully with the result that in that time frame you have a paid off truck and are a complete O/O.

That's the goal anyhow. The reason I did not go through with it was straight discrimination from the owner of the facility who thought that deaf truckers do not get to go into business etc. (This is a common attitude towards deaf mutes from and up to including the mid to late 70's era) I decided that I either had one hell of a ACA case or walk away from it, I'll still be driving long after that old coot is dead and buried. So I walked away from it.

I take solace in the fact that particular tractor I picked out of the 40 or so in his yard was one of the best matches at the time and it would have been very good. I took oh about 3 months going through his tractors and interviewing his managers before deciding I would go do this thing. You would think that there might have been a problem or perhaps he thought I did not have the stones to sign that pile of legalese and note on that tractor. Whatever. It was a good learning experience for me anyway.

Most people don't understand how few of us who are handicapped managed to get into trucking and get away with it all from that era. No regrets. I did exactly what I wanted to and not before then.

Even earlier than that when the internet was new (Anyone remember Netscape?) we had a vacant store property in the family and I was already exploring turning that into a internet cafe that would run 24/7 the problem was it was too new of a concept to the entire area and potential customers. Most of the people alive today were still babies then and the business itself would have failed. So we didnt do it. That store became something else in time. But not me. It was something of a opportunity to get into business without too much of a shoe string. But if the situation isnt right, it's literally isnt right.

Again this post is probably not what you expected but to become a O/O of one or more trucks in your business name owned by you is a wonderful thing if you can do it. I have seen many good small companies fail in enough time for them to for a variety of reasons. One in particular here in Arkansas, he was 200+ trucks and trailers. A very good operation. I found out years later he is out of the business. Why? I dunno. Regulations might have something to do with it. But I will never forget him because he and his entire staff were warriors and it didnt matter what happened day or night, things got done. Maybe a little bit too much done given the paper logs I ran in them old days. But in the end I did well with McKesson and people contracted to them.

 

Purchase a truck then operate it. If you own the truck and operate the truck you are an owner operator. Does not make you a business owner though, just a truck driver who owns the truck he operates.

Stay far away from Kevin Rutherford in the begining. Until you have zero debt and a lot of money in the bank YOU CAN NOT AFFORD letstruck.com and Kevin Rutherford. His job is to sell his products and services and that is pretty much all he does. If your in a very good financial position and have proven you can sustain yourself financially and you would like to play with some of the toys he sells then by all means enjoy yourself and experiment with his products and services otherwise you could turn into another victim of HIS business. The amount of problems that have been caused by his "advise" are legion.