Change my mind

Most independents start out leased to a company before they make the change. I understand that you dont want to be a company driver, but going from oil field and the other positions you have had is a HUGE jump to make. You have mechanical experience, which is great. But are you sure that you will even like trucking? You have to rates, so you are not taking cheap loads that will suck you bank accounts dry and put you out of business.

 

120 hours a week that kinda crazy. You knows it 70 hours a week running regular trucks with ELDs and 14 hour work day limit from time you start your day.

 

I can't even count how many people I have seen who buy their first used truck, run for a few months, save some money and decide to start a fleet (yes, I was like that too lol).
Usually what happens those used trucks start needing lots of money for repairs, freight slows down or hired drivers mess up the trucks, company's safety score and then quit.
Owner ends up being left with garbage trucks, debt and messed up record. Then he either completely quits or gets a good truck and starts running all by himself.
I am not saying that will be you, but I think 99% of the new fleet dreamers end up like that

 

Just do it , with the experience you have you should be fine . The first month will be touch and go but after that the stress and newness will ware off .
I spent 18 yrs in the HHG (moving) industry and had 5 trucks running at one point , made good money but got burned out quickly. I decided I wanted to start a trucking business so I bought a Truck suitable for OTR and got on the road . I still had income coming in from my moving company and started to sale my equipment piece by piece until I finally closed doors and dissolved that company. I had a easy start with income and the sale of my trucks the transition from a financial standpoint was easy . Learning lanes and dealing with brokers and staying compliant with DOT the first year was a learning curve for sure . Get some insurance quotes , run some numbers and see if it's worth while . Like others have said you can always lease onto a company and get your feet wet . Good luck

 

I say go for it if it’s something you want to do. Will struggle the first year because some brokers won’t work with new MCs but it gets better. However it’s financially difficult. I would suggest finding a small trucking company and lease on.

Use their MC numbers but get and book your own freight or maybe get dispatched. This will give you an idea if it’s something you want to persue with your own authority.

Finding the right company will help a lot. Learning about IRP plates, IFTA, rules and regulations, brokers and booking loads, etc. Problem with starting your own authority off the bat is the high insurance, limited brokers, while still dealing with truck and trailer maintenance.

If you need recommendations you can DM me. I’m in the San Antonio area.

 

I wouldn't recommend you to run on your own MC before any trucking.

Be a company driver then lease on o/op then consider MC if you want to continue.

Reasons:
- Insurance (stricter qualification, increasing annual rate, micro-monitoring)
- FMCSA/State/City (rapid change of regulations on HOS, labor law (AB5 and PRO), equipment control, driver qualifications, emission (CARB), etc.)
- Operation (load search, sales quote, account receivable, dispatch, parking, documentations, drivers, asset control and management, etc.)
- Legal (hungry lawyers, greedy plaintiffs, insurance scammers, ignorant juries who just disregard all facts and vote guilty no matter what)

Simply put: If you run like an o/op as MC, find a good MC and lease on with them as an o/op. If you are ready for the transition from a trucker to business administrator, then go for MC.

If you want more of my view, read below:

Running as MC is absolutely independent. Please don't underestimate that. You are completely exposed to the market as an individual entity. I have seen many applicants failed and urgently looked for a lease on with their 10+ years old truck just to reset their financials and career, but get rejected because everyone is taking 2012-2015 and newer. Don't blame us though. Run you own MC, expand to 10+ trucks and see how the insurance rate will force you to do the same.

As a MC, you tell us what you can do and how much you can do at what rate. If you win the bid, my brokerage team will choose you. If your service is good and reliable, that includes sending invoices beside of the "regular" trucking stuffs, then maybe you gain some power on the negotiation table on rate (there are many small size MCs with less than 4 trucks suck at invoicing and try to collect money six months or even two year after a load is done. Good luck finding anyone paying that right away. This is extremely common. So think about your cash). Don't rely on load board. Approach the real customers.

In the terms of money, shouldn't really touch this as Safety, but its all about quantity. This is why many MCs regardless of their size will quote at cost sometimes to swallow as many customers as they can and later show off their capacity and availability which discourage customers from trying new MCs. People prefer easy way and comfort zone, especially brokers run on quotas.

Capacity is another topic when operating as a MC. Expansion is easy as there are many o/op and dreamers out there. Since you are a trucker and owner, you will run into conflict of interest with other drivers, especially when the market is slow everywhere. To maintain the volume so everyone can eat, you quote cheaply and push to provide good services. Brokers like you will stuff you with more loads. If you say no for one time, it may not hurt the relationship. If you reject few more times, you lose customers. So you have to take them in. Now you are experiencing overcapacity. So you ask other truckers for help and broker them the loads and you find yourself double-brokering. So you apply for brokering authority and guess what? MAP21.

I have more to share, but I will stop here. Of course, depends on the type of operation you are engaging, I may not be right.

 

Don't use this credit for anything except emergencies.

 

You shouldn’t have any problems. Sounds like you’re used to the feast or famine lifestyle. Have had a lot of different roles. You’ll figure it out, pretty easily. Fluency in English helps, but not required. You’ll do just fine. Might want to keep options open, in case you don’t like it. Keep connections in the oil field. Things always come back around. Might just be a Lucrative place to be in the future. At 39, why waste time leasing onto someone else? No one has your interest in mind, better than you.

 

Not many start debt free ( that was in my post ), no debt, no truck payments, all trucks in the 400k mile range. Lots of negative thoughts on these boards. My motto is try and succeed!! Not try and hope