Advice for an old wannabe...

And in 5 years the truck you bought MIGHT be worth half of what you paid for it ..best case scenario… just go drive for somebody else until you wanta either draw on your SS or retire.. no sense screwing up your life financially at this point

 

Why do you want to own a truck rather than drive someone else's truck?

 

Let me give it to you straight, you buy a truck, ANY truck, you can kiss your pension goodbye. Many will argue with me, but O/Os are a rare breed today, unlike say 20 years ago, when everybody, including me, had a truck. It was a ludicrous venture, that anyone could make it. 10% down, an old Schneider truck, and we truckin'. Doesn't work that way today, and unless one has a rock solid account, they've had for years, a "cold quarter" will end in failure. Today, O/Os can't compete with megas, and used to be, as in my case, the only way to drive a cool truck, was to buy my own. Back then, generally company trucks were junk. Today, most companies have newer generic rolling apts. that are as good as any O/O truck, with some exceptions, and to be blunt, I couldn't think of a more foolish way to run the clock out than buying your own truck. With so many great trucking jobs out there, you want to drive a truck, AND keep your pension for that rainy day a comin', just go with a company job. Insurance alone today will kill you. Good luck.

 

Speaking as a guy who at 64 years old has no retirement nest egg and will probably be working until I physically can’t (and hopefully that won’t be anytime soon), I’d advise you to keep your pension safe.

Add to it by taking a job in trucking, sure. But you wouldn’t invest a hundred thousand dollars in someone else to start a company in a business they have no experience doing, so don’t make that mistake yourself.

 

I would not buy a truck also. Trucks today are not like the older pre emissions truck of late 90s. I had 2000 Volvo truck with S60 Detroit Diesel engines truck was only towed 1 time in 1.4 million miles.

my current company truck has been towed 3 times. It’s 2020 Freightliner. Fuel pump destroyed itself when truck was only 1 year old. It took freightliner like 3 weeks to get the part and do upgrade. It takes like 5 computers to run a new emissions engine. Lots and of people going out of business now because the rates are dropping from the last 7 years of very high rates

 

I was in a similar situation as yours - at age 57 I was burned out from my career, but financially set - kids on their own and independent, enough of a nest egg to step away from the grind. For me, driving has been a fun retirement hobby, that also brings in some money and makes me feel useful and relevant.

At this point you don't know much about driving, most importantly, whether you'll actually enjoy the work. So take it one step at a time, and be prepared to alter your plan as you gain experience. You might end up doing what you described, or your path will take you somewhere else.

The same advice applies to you as to any prospective driver - decide what's important to you as far as home time, pay, type of freight, teams or not. Identify companies in your area that offer what you want, find out how they hire - do they offer in-house training, what schools do they hire entry-level driver from. And go for it!

 

Well being 66, pulling a frameless dump and have been an O/O most of the 43 years I've been driving I would say in your case, go drive for someone else for several years. I had a buddy who retired from the Power Co mega retirement, banked some bucks. Anyway he wanted to buy a truck until he saw how much it cost to maintain one and the level of headaches involved. He took my advice and Xd the idea of being an O/O and drove for a company. Being a single person I don't have to worry about the hubby or kids or grandkids complaining that I spend too much time and treasure or the truck and NOT enough on them.

 

Exactly.....you might hate it, a lot of people do.

 

Just insurance costs for a new owner-operator is enough to buy a nice vacation condo on the beach.