Advice needed: Looking for knowledge on expected costs for being an o.o

Just looking for peoples individual breakdown of monthly expenses to try and anticipate what i would be looking at personally. Not concerned with my truck payment cause that will be determined by me. Any information from guys that have being down it a while and don't mind sharing please feel free to post here or pm me. Thanks again....Also i am just looking to lease on with a company to start out not looking to run on my own until i spend some time learning thru a company like landstar...

 

The research button will answer all your questions. Heck the first page of this section will help you out. I gurantee if you read the first 20 pages of O/O section you will have your answers.

 

well thanks i am doing that as well i rephrased it cause it was a bit of wall of text. Just looking to hear from guys that have put in the time and would have any advice to a driver looking to have more control of what he does. I'm not really switching over to o.o in the hopes of becoming rich but i am tired of being told what to do and how to do it and the company couldnt care less about me. I'd like to have some kind of say and ability to run how id like.

 

lease on as a "lease purchase"? If so, save the hassle and just drive as a company driver until you have better experience.

As to the rest of it. Start keeping a log of everything you have done to your company truck and what you can figure for costs.

Plus you have annual base plate costs, annual 2290 tax, quarterly ifta, quarterly income tax etc.

All stuff that's on the stickies in this sub-forum.

 

As rickybobby stated above, the first few threads will help out a lot. You can also check out truckersu.com by Tim Brady and mygauges.com by Kevin Rutherford. If you like, I might be able to send you a copy of our spread sheet so that you can look at the variables.

 

Everybody has a different point of view. Some operate as cheap as possible with used tires, duct tape, and little to no preventative engine work-overs until something breaks, others go first class all the way and budget accordingly. Some will figure 18 tires at $450 each every 200,000 miles some will figure 10.5 tires at $250 each every 300,000 miles. And the same variations occur with dozens of other variables. Just make sure you figure on the high side, as well, take your presumed cost of operations and add another 20% and you'll be a lot closer.

 

Well i didnt mean lease purchase but i am not planning to run under my own authority but to run for another company. The main thing im trying to figure out is how much is truly saved to justify to pay to work with a company that pays for plates ifta so on and so forth. Or if id just be better off looking elsewhere just trying to look at enough overhead costs to gauge things before i dive in. Thanks for the info texan kind of what im looking for as how long to estimate things and id rather be on the high end of maintenance just trying to see how much that adds up too.

 

When I do projections, I break the numbers down by the mile, since that is how most are paid. I use a baseline of 10,000 miles per month, since that should be about average for most drivers. There are some who may drive more, but most will take time off and there are a few months when business will be soft. It is a good average.

Expenses will vary from one driver and owner to another. In fact, I own more than one truck and the expenses will vary from one truck to another. But, I can give you some rough calculations. I count on about $0.025/mile for oil changes. I count on $0.05/mile for tires. Your biggest expense will usually be for fuel. I use 5 mpg to calculate fuel expense. Some trucks do better than 5 mpg. If you are paying $4/gallon for fuel, your fuel expense will be $0.80/mile. You should put something away for maintenance. Depending on the age of the truck you can put from $0.08-0.15/mile for maintenance. I would only use the maintenance account for major expenses, such as a transmission or engine overhaul.

If you lease to a carrier that pays for base plates and permits, you should not have to worry about that cost. If not, I would count on $2,200-2,500/year. If you use 10,000 miles per month, then your cost would be about $0.02/mile. You cannot predict when your truck will break down or blow a tire, so you need to understand that things do happen on the road. I have blown as many as 3 tires on a single run. That is not the norm, but it can happen.

IFTA tax is usually deducted from each settlement by the carrier. That will vary according to where you run and where you purchase fuel. I file my own IFTA and rarely spend more than $25/truck. Last month it ran a little over $50 for the quarter. The IFTA is usually not a major expense. You will need to pay your HVUT (2290 heavy vehicle use tax) before you can get your base plates and permits. It costs $550/year and is pro rated from July. If you decide to proceed with this I would recommend that you have a good amount saved or put back in case you break down. Repairs will need to be paid for when completed. Some carriers will assist with some repairs or getting a tire at their national discount.

You can break down your payments by the mile, as well. Again, I would use 10,000/month to do the calculations. If you have a $1,500/month payment your cost would be $0.15/mile.

You may want want to check out the sticky thread about becoming an owner operator. Most of the costs are listed. The ones that I listed are those that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Thanks gman that was very helpful. I was thinking at the end of the day looking at an 07 truck pre emissions as ive heard horror stories about 08-10 models with passive regen. In my mind i figure after the down payment i want as small as i can manage monthly payments 1200-1400 month. Just looking from guys personal experience on how much preventative maintence usually runs them a month/year. As i would like to at least have 5-8k in the bank after all initial start up payments and move from there and figure what id need to set back until i can figure the numbers myself. As the other sticky threads they are very helpful but nothing is better than to hear it from the gift horse.

 

I have this that I shared months ago.