Another question about owning a truck and not driving

(Sorry Billy didn't mean to jack your thread). The good thing is that my brother shows me the invoices and my truck is always moving.

Anyways, why do you feel that 3 trucks with generate more money than 1? Also, I want to get my own authority to book my own loads but can anyone introduce me to a broker(s)? One guy was nice enough to give me a number but I"m not sure how good the loads are.

 

I totally agree with josh here...you gotta be on the phone all the time sometimes even after hours in order to please ur customer/broker...when i was driving and booking loads just for 2 trucks it was super hard I knew I had to do one or the other......either I drive and have someone look for loads or I stay home and work the brokerage side of this whole biz.

 

Josh, from what I've been reading the loads from the loads boards are bs. Is this the only way to start booking loads?

 

The Invoices can show what he wants it to show...have him show you stubs from paychecks that way you'll know 100% the truth.

 

Why couldn't you run under your brothers authority and pay hm 10%?

 

That's where I get 90% or more of my loads. If you just call and take whatever they offer, yeah, you're probably not going to get a good rate. You have to be willing to haggle to get what your truck is worth, and be willing to say "no" and move on if you can't get what you need.

 

Because that's an extra $1400 (2 trips) or $2100 (3 trips) that I could use towards the maintenance of my truck or truck driver salary.

 

What board do you use? If you don't mind me asking. Not a big deal if you don't answer.

 

As far as a paid load board, I use ITS. I also use Landstar's board pretty regularly.

 

If you want to be a truck owner who doesn't drive, you need to understand why it is so difficult to show a profit with only a single truck. If you don't drive and the truck breaks down, then you will not only need to pay for repairs, but may also need to pay for a motel and even something to the driver if he is down for several days. Repairs can eat up profits very quickly. I will give you a couple of examples. I had a transmission go out on one of my trucks a couple of years ago. I had a tow bill of $954 for about 110 miles. The truck was down for about a week waiting on a transmission. With repairs, driver pay and motel I spent over $8,100, not including the lost revenue. My equipment was paid for, but there was lost revenue and a lot of out of pocket expenses. If you only have 1 truck and it breaks down you are essentially out of business for the time it takes to make repairs. Even if you have a warranty you will still have the expense of the tow and putting your driver in a motel. If you have been clearing $500/week on the truck it will take you 16 weeks to be back to break even with the truck. Using the same scenario, if you have 2 trucks 50% of your business will be down for that period of time. Your out of pocket expenses for repairs will be the same, but with two trucks, it will take half the time to get back to break even, plus you still have some revenue coming in from the truck that is not broken. Instead of taking 16 weeks to be back to break even, it will take you 8 weeks. If you have 3 trucks, then it will take you just over 5 weeks to be back to break even.

If you have one truck and one driver and he quits, then your equipment is sitting and you have no income on that truck. Even if it is paid off, you still have other fixed expenses that go on whether the truck is moving or sitting. It can take time to find a good driver. Whether you have one or one thousand trucks, some of them will be sitting sometime. They could sit for a few days or a few months. You can't put someone in your truck that isn't qualified. You will need to check them out first.

When you have 2 or 3 trucks you will likely not have all of them sitting at the same time. You could have one that doesn't have a driver or is broken, but it will not completely shut down your operation. No matter how many trucks you have, all of them will not be running all the time. A major breakdown can take all of the profits that you have made for several weeks or months. The last turbo I blew on a truck cost me about $2,700, including labor. A radiator can cost over $1,000 to repair. Whether you have a new or old truck, you will blow tires. You should be prepared to spend from $300-500 per tire. I have blown 3 tires on one trip with the same truck. It is rare, but it can happen. The price that I noted for a tire doesn't include road service if you can't make it to a tire store or truck stop. It also doesn't include the cost of making repairs to anything that might have been damaged when the tire blew.

I am only touching on some of the things that can and does happen when you own trucks.

You could go for months without anything happening, then all of a sudden you have 2 or 3 blowouts. Or, you could blow a turbo or injector. Things can happen without notice. If you have money in the bank for major repairs you should be able to get the truck rolling again. If you have several trucks, then it won't hurt so much when you have a problem with one truck. You still have income from the other trucks.

Another consideration to ownership is when the truck breaks down the driver will be looking to you to find a place where repairs can be made. He could call in the middle of the night. Breakdowns never seem to happen during regular business hours. You will need to find someone who can get to your driver and get the truck repaired. I think that the least I have paid for road service was $200. It usually seems to cost at least $300.

A few years ago I had to spend over $11,000 on repairs on one truck. It is much easier to absorb those costs when you have 2 or 3 trucks rather than one. When one is broken you still have income from the other trucks. One other item that I will mention is insurance. Since you won't be driving yourself, your premiums will be tied to the MVR and experience of the drivers you hire. And premiums can vary considerably.

I could break down some of the costs of ownership down by the mile, but OODIA has a spreadsheet on their website that you can use. It isn't 100% accurate, but would give you a better idea of what it will cost to operate your truck. I don't remember if you need to be a member of OOIDA to access the website, but the address is www.ooida.com.

You need to look at any investment objectively. Some people come into this business with rose colored eyes, expecting to make their fortune while seeing the country. This is a demanding business with a high churn or turnover rate. You can earn a good living if you drive the truck yourself. You can also earn a decent living owning trucks and putting drivers in them, but it is more of a challenge when you deal with other drivers. If you decide to proceed with your plan, I would suggest you take your time. Talk to others who have done the same thing you want to do. I have been on both sides of this business. It is very capital intensive. Over the years I have had my ups and downs, but this business has been very good to me and my family. I would not discourage anyone to not follow their dreams, but would encourage anyone who is thinking about buying trucks for an investment to take their time and learn all you can before you write a check.