A B5

Simple solution, just get your own authority. It’s not hard. I don’t understand why individuals are hooked on fleece. If you can’t afford to get your own numbers, your in the wrong business.

 

Because some of us are lazy and like the ease and security of contract freight and like being able to park and walk away from the truck and not deal with paperwork. I have zero desire to have my own authority so I guess I’ve been in the wrong business the whole time I’ve owned trucks.

 

Basically being a company driver at there mercy. It’s all good. It works out sometimes for a few. Been there done that.

 

Or dealing with customers not paying on time or at all.
I had my own authority for about 10 years and have been leased to a carrier for over 20 years now.
I’m not at their “mercy” and have no problem being a glorified company driver.

 

I dont work with direct customers. Call it what you like….. I haul for a few carriers using my own rates. If inflation goes up, I’m knocking on there door. They all know I’m established and I won’t be crying wolf if I run into issues. They all know I will get the job done regardless. Been in it since 1979.

 

Not all companies treat you that way. There are some that let you do what you want and don’t care when you go home or for how long.

 

Sounds like you didn’t choose the right place to lease on to then. I’m usually home for a minimum of a week and haven’t had any issues. About the only thing is if I’m staying home a month or more I’ll have to drop the trailer and bobtail home instead of taking it with me. That only happens Dec/Jan when I park for a while.

 

When I looked into getting my own truck and numbers it looked like a time-consuming process for first time owners. So please correct me if I am wrong about anything, I may be looking again in the near future. Getting the MC number seemed easy enough, but it appeared you had to get the truck before you could get the DOT number the backlog could be more than 30 days for that. Then you had to get registered with each state you would run in and get your IFTA. That process appeared to take between another 30 to 90 days. That is a total of 4 months before you could drive the truck under your own authority. In the meantime, you have to pay on both the truck itself plus any insurance, taxes etc. So, by the time you take your first load you are 4 months in the hole. If I were to look into it again, I sure would appreciate leasing onto a company (after paying for my own home state registration and plates plus bobtail insurance) and running their authority until I got all my papers. Plus O/O operating costs are different. Perhaps for the first year or two it would be better to lease on to a company to get an accurate operation cost analysis of fuel, maintenance, etc. before adding in the additional costs of your own authority.

 

Right now, this is only in CA. If either the company or driver live in CA it is an issue. If both are out of state, they can deliver to CA but would need to deadhead out before getting a load. If i were an O/O or a company that had leased on O/O I would simply not deliver anything to CA. If enough O/O and companies stop delivering there, CA would quickly discover why this is a bad idea. I do not even want to go to the west coast, Chicago, or the NE as a company driver. If I ever get to O/O I could care less about their laws. Midterms are in a few days, just remember this when you go vote. There is a way to keep it from going national. I will let each person figure out that way.

 

NJ climbed in Cali's back pocket [like usual] and the first case has been tied up in court over a year...multiple other states are looking +/or legislating the same ABC test VRS the IRS 20 questions that WAS the standard. The current administration is also wearing those funny glasses that only see the potential to bring in Billions by joining in the insanity.

 

Start by leasing that newly purchased truck to a carrier.

DOT is interstate, you don't need to register a business with every state

In NJ you could title your truck, walk to the other side of the agency in Trenton and stand in the IRP line and get your plates with the title, proof of insurance [Non Trucking Liability will work], and your motor carrier's DOT and TAX ID number then move one line to the right and get your IFTA account and decals.

Starting when the open you can [with 100% of the documents needed, including proof of residence] walk out the door with IFTA and IRP by lunchtime; go and sign your lease and post the carrier's signs and be working the next day.

If you create an LLC and get a TAX ID of your own before going to motor vehicle and title and register it in the corporate name, you are set to make some money while you get your business together using the corporate name

Not every state is a money grubbing as 'Jersey but it should still be possible to start out this way.