For the O/O's

Do you have a CDL?

 

My first piece of advice would be to tell you not listen to anyone that tells you that you can’t do it. Second piece of advice is tell you don’t do it until you have prepared 100%. That part is huge and will vary greatly from one person to the next so only you really knows when you are prepared. I strongly recommend working for a company that will train you well, pay you well, and get you home. Work for someone else until you can haul cars without tearing them up. Then when you have the cash to pay for a rig you may be ready. Even the best carhaulers who have a $6,000 a month truck payment could be setting themselves up for failure if one or two bad things happen. If I had a $6,000 truck payment I probably wouldn’t have parked for the day at 11 am on a Thursday. Life happens to every one of us and if you aren’t prepared it could bankrupt you. If you are prepared financially then bad things will be a minor inconvenience. There can be very good money to be made as a Carhaul Owner Operator, but if it was easy money and everyone could do it successfully, it wouldn’t be good money. It looks much easier from the outside looking in than it really is if you plan on being successful.

From early on in my trucking career I wanted to be a Union Carhauler hauling Corvettes out of Bowling Green Ky for Allied Systems. I would talk to those guys at the hotel and marvel at their rigs going down the highway. I knew that work was for me. It took me many years, 25 before I became a union carhauler, but hauling Chevy Pickups for Jack Cooper. It wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, because I drove junk equipment and made less money than I made at UPS. Eventually I found my niche with Allied Systems. This was my turning point in car hauling and it was as good as I thought it would be. Jack Cooper bought Allied Systems and it became just another job. This is when I made the decision to put my plan in place and buy my own carhauler. It turned out to be the best move of my adult career. I am leased to one of the country’s largest non union car haulers and I am so happy that I hope to spend the rest of my working days here. I compare being here to being very close to what I liked about Allied Systems, but in a much better truck making much more money. Many of the former Allied people work here also so the culture that I enjoyed at Allied can be found here.
Good Luck!

 

Excellent advice from Banker, spot on. I can testify to the being prepared, I started on a shoe string and struggled hard, and this was after learning to haul on someone else's dime. There is so much that goes into being a great trucker, and you need to master being a driver, then a business owner long before you start trying to own a rig doing something specialized like car hauling.

Keep asking the right questions, saving money and learning the trade. By the way, owning your own rig is great but it isn't right for every one, so don't be ashamed if the ownership portion of your dream never happens. You can still excel as a company driver, I know several company drivers that have more upstairs than many owners, some that have more net worth than the company owners!

 

You have to really feel the strong need/desire to own your rig to make it worthwhile. If it were strictly about money I never would have left UPS. I would still be making great money, investing heavily, have 5 weeks vacation working on 7 weeks, and the hardest part of my job was picking where I wanted to stop for dinner. But if I could go back to UPS with my seniority, I would stay right where I am. You probably would have to know me to understand why, but being in charge of me is more important than any amount of money. When I set out to be an owner op, I said I would be happy with company driver pay. On a good week I can clear 3 or 4 times what I made as a company driver. On a bad week it’s 1.5 more. When I take a week off I don’t make a dime and my insurance is still $350. I am on track to double my best year at UPS, (net profit) I will be off about 6 weeks in 2018.
I don’t ever have a supervisor waiting to pounce on me at work, with a Union Rep to defend me, because I took off work for family obligations. This part is priceless and you have to know UPS to get the full meaning of it!

 

It’s a good goal to work towards. A new car carrier is $300,000. Still worth it for the right person. You are wise to plan long term.

 

#### Banker, you gave up the easiest $38/hour driving job, so im not crazy for leaving $105k/year for 215 days of driving for Evil Corp? I know how it feels to have a microscope up your rectum. I too have had this insane urge to drive a parking lot.

 

If I hadn’t wanted to haul cars for many years before I hired in at UPS I probably would still be there. I have talked more people who make $100,000 and who like their job out of becoming an owner op or hauling cars than I have talked into making the plunge. The key word is are you “happy” with your employer and do you need that income to feed your family?The income should eventually come back, but it takes a while. I wasn’t happy so it was easier to walk away, it still took me several years to get the nerve.

I would not go back if I could go back with my seniority. I left as “Re-hire” which means I could probably be back in a brown truck next week, but it ain’t happening.
Don’t leave a great paying job until you have researched the new employer and thought it over and over and over. I love hauling cars and like the challenges that come with it. At first it sucked bad and some days I wondered what I got myself in to. I am in a space now that is better than any space I have been in my 31 year driving career, but it took some time to get here. Good luck with your decision.