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

OOIDA has a spreadsheet that you might find helpful. You can download it from their website. www.ooida.com. I don't recall if you need to be a member to download the spreadsheet. They did have two spreadsheets, one for an owner operator and another for a lease operator. While it isn't exact, it is a good basis from which to start. With their spreadsheet, you can plug in your numbers and it will show your profitability or loss. I have software specific to trucking that I use to track revenue and expenses. It doesn't do much for doing projections, but is good when looking as historical data. It gives the cost and profit for each load and any time period. It is important to know where you are in any business. Most people underestimate their expenses and over estimate their revenue. It is much better to underestimate revenue and over estimate expenses. Figure all your estimated expenses and add about 30% and if you can live with the numbers, you may be able to make money.

I would advise anyone buying their first truck to keep their payments at or under $1,000/month. You could probably make those $1,500 payments, but your first year or so will be a time of learning. You will not only be learning how to run your truck, but learning about running in a carrier's system. It usually takes about 6 months or so to get familiar with a carrier's system and how they operate. This can be especially true when you lease to an agent based carrier, such as Landstar, who doesn't have dispatchers. You will need to learn how to find loads and where to run.

I am encouraged that you plan on putting money aside before buying your truck.