Do owner operators have gold plated toilets?

That is such a good point I saw someone say... O/O SHOULD have a basic knowledge and skill in mechanics. Changing your own oil, batteries, alternator, power steering pump, fuel lines, tires, brakes.... As an O/O you can save hundreds of thousands in a trucks lifetime in labor costs doing these things yourself. They are very simple to do, however you obviously need the tools (mainly air tools are needed) and the place to perform the repairs. It is just like owning a car after all... Change your fuel pump yourself for the $110 the pump costs, or pay a mechanic $900-$1200 to do the same thing with the same part. Owning Fords all my life I learned to do this real quick. lol (1993 Ford Crown Victoria, took me $15 for the book for my car, $110 for the pump and an afternoon of dropping the tank, pulling out the assembly and replacing the pump)

If you can take a basic mechanics course or diesel engine course you will be well on your way to saving thousands every year. The repairs are not hard, you just need to have the right tools, the right mindset and above all, some good old fashioned elbow grease.

 

I have an old Army buddy who is an O/O... now his truck is paid off, and he takes a week off every month at home, but he pulls reefers leased to a company and this is what he did last year in round figures

Gross $212,000
Fuel $115000
Maitenance $20,000
Other expenses - $7,000

So his net taxable income was around $60k

 

I think in general what you will find out is O/O will gross tons more than a company driver. However once all the truck expenses are added in you will see O/O don't make that much more than a company driver.

Now on the other hand from what I have been told if you stay OTR for lots of time without taking long breaks at home you can actually make an extremely good net profit. It just depends on how long you want to stay out on the road and how hard you want to drive.

 

I personally make around $80,000 net with my truck. I run hard but also if I want to take 5-6 week long vacations through the year I do. I only burn about $50-55,000 in fuel each year. Then take out for repairs and tires and other expenses figure another $20,000. I am home whenever I choose to be and I stay as long as I want. I don't have the "boss" telling me the truck needs to move and I don't have to worry about not having my $500-$900 NET paycheck for the week from a company. I could never go back to running as a company driver with no say so. Just not for me. In my opinion an owner operator that knows what he is doing can make ALOT more than a company driver.

 

Business model varies by person, freight type, and region. Figure it out for yourself and do it simply and quick by answering these questions;

Is there freight near your house to be able to run loaded out/return home with or are you going to dead head a ways and burn money w/ empty miles?

How much time away from home are you willing to spend to make it work? 5 weeks or 5 mo.?

are you a business minded person who wants to own a truck and run it or a trucker who wants to own a business? If the later then hang up your dream because you will fail.

helped run the family business (OTR) for 5 years and when it comes to on road trucking the way it is now in my area I can make $3700 less a year as a company driver then an O/O but have ZERO care/worry about maintenance, fuel, tires, TAXES (take 30% off your income for taxes and SSI contributions). I would have a 200 is mi DH to leave and return from home so that right there is $133 hit every time. I go home now every 14 days or less and still make around $60k a year. Ill keep running someone else's freight in someone else's truck and banking money untill there is more freight in my area, better paying freight in general, and FMCSA settles down with regulating to justify their jobs.

that being said if I lived in the heartland or even further south in Western PA I would think about buying a truck as freight could get me home and back out and I wouldn't be so far out of the way from nearly all businesses

 

it's not hard to make 5G every week. it's what left after all expenses that counts. LOL.

i'm more inclined with the step dad. he know what he's talking about. lease programs are rental programs. they all start out good. but very seldom stay that way.

 

to what would i be misinformed about????

 

i've spent 25g in 6 months. 10 of that for an electrical gemlin that got fixed for free. everytime i have a breakdown. it never gets fixed the first time. usually take 3 tries. i drove the truck for a year. never once being in the shop. 18 months later it don't want to work. so now it sits in the yard.

 

Owning your own trucking biz is quite an endeavor. You must not only know how to drive, and when I say drive I mean a good seasoned, refined driver, and you must also know how to extensively run your own small business. Like any small business you will put your blood, sweat and tears into and do nothing but live for your business. Being an owner operator is actually more involved than a regular small biz. You are actually living in your business!

There is very fine line in success and failure in this industry and you must really know what you are doing and be good at managing your time and money. I personally was a very experienced driver before buying my first truck and even though I did it team with my wife it was still a very difficult endeavor! You must really know how to pinch pennies to make a profit! Fuel consumption is your number one key to making money out there. The less you spend on fuel the more goes in your pocket. An inexperienced driver will not know how to stretch their fuel budget.

In most cases, generally about 1600-1800 miles a week is what you need to run to break even. Anything over that is when you start to make money. Breakdowns can severely hinder your pay and progress! Its also not a matter of if its a matter of when and you need to be financially prepared when it happens. A breakdown or two can easily put you into the negative!

Leasing is a good way to get started with little money upfront but is a much higher risk and profit margin is quite a bit tighter! Mileage pay is quite a bit lower and so is your business freedom. If you are looking into owner operator go about it the right way and save your money while you gain experience. You want a good $20,000-$30,000 in the bank AFTER you purchase your truck and equipment. This will provide you with operating money and breakdown back up. Like I said before, one or two breakdowns can seriously hurt your business!

There is much, much more to this whole endeavor and this is just a brief outline. Try the OOIDA website for some more insight on owning your own truck.

Good luck...

 

Thanks for all of the great responses.

I haven't even started my CDL course yet so I should probably clear that hurdle first, then the employment hurdle, then fifty other hurdles before I even consider whether to become a business owner. It's nice to have a forum like this to learn from others mistakes and successes, especially when it comes to such a huge, expensive decision.