Considering o/o

Everytime I look at loadboards, I always find 15 to 25 trailers in my town, ready to go somewhere..
Just call em and book it!!
Seems easy

 

15k to buy a truck, 5k for repairs and maintenance right after you bought it. Lease trailer for $650 per month. 10k in reserve, can be cash or credit card. Use factoring. After 6 month get rid of factoring and buy your own trailer. Risky? Yes. But you gonna be ok as long as you have some basic business and analitical qualities, your truck does not encounter any catastrofical failure and you dont have have any health or family issues to keep you away from the road.

 

Ive seen all shapes and sizes of motors blown up, refusing to work etc etc On expensive tow trucks...all not cool

I know 3 guys who bought trucks, 5k down, 1400 a month, lease em on, 2 are profitable, and happy, one is in the shop every week with electronic issues....
All three trucks matching pro stars fleet trucks...all 300k miles, all cumins isx

Makes sense to have all that back up cash...my pal has some warrantees in play, he needs the money to pay bills!!

 

What load boards are you using?

 

freight finder....truckinginfo.net...etc etc

 

This! 75k is exactly what it took for me to get into the game as owner operator and have a reasonable cushion in the kitty.

I am a new(ish) owner operator and agree, save cash and buy a truck and trailer. Try to have 20k or more in reserves ( plus credit options if your truck should have a catastrophe) after you get your truck and trailer road ready.

Getting my authority took about 40 days and cost 10k for tags, insurance etc. During that time I worked on the truck getting it ready for the road.

My truck is 2006 volvo averaging 6.2 mpg and pulling steel 48 great dane flatbed. I added 18 virgin tires , brakes all the way around and minor repairs such as hazed headlights, fixing air leaks, and adding things like air suspension gauges, backup camera and dump valve. I've done all the work thus far myself which really saves on expenses.




Since starting with my own authority, I'm averaging 800 a day to the truck after fuel, tolls and fixed expenses. I've been lucky and havn't had a major break down, but am needing to replace injectors or injector harness soon for a CHECK ECU light that keeps randomly popping up. I try to keep my cash on hand in account at 20k and don't see a paycheck until Its built back up to that number. I paid 5% for 1 day quick pay option a couple times in the beginning as my account got perilously low.

Since then I've built truck account back to 20k and Today was the first day since starting the trucking company in May that I paid myself any wages out of the business and I have to admit, it felt GREAT!



I'm sure many can make it starting out with a lease or purchase with payments, but I do sleep easier during down time knowing I don't have a truck payment or extra insurance costs due to needing full coverage.

Give it thought both directions. I'm glad that I became an owner operator, but do encourage you to save up to a much higher number before taking that leap.

 

My first one had 708K on it and I did not have to start spending money on it outside of routine maintenance, until I put drivers in the seat.