good freight

My numbers are for a hot shot truck (Dually, 1 ton) and 40 foot trailer---not an 18 wheeler. And yes, a spread sheet is necessary. And no two truckers will have the same answer, to many variables.

 

I'm with Yung Trucker here on this. The whole point of these forums is to ask questions and learn from others weather that be their successes or their failures. The point I'm trying to make is that life is too short and too expensive to learn the hard way all on your own, especially when your can learn from somebody else's mistake. The purpose of his question isn't for you setup his company for him, he's just trying to gather knowledge so he have an ideal of what it will take to run his own truck. Some people on this forum are helpful at times and hurtful at other times. And yes I'm talking about you RickG but in your defense I've learn a lot from you on this website too so I'M NOT BASHING YOU. I'm just saying don't jump on somebody for asking a simple question. I don't know Yungtrucker but I opened this thread because I would like to know the same question he asked, but i have no intentions of getting my own truck right now, but does that mean I shouldn't try to learn what others have to say? I know I'm not even on the road yet so this is pretty much one of the only places I have to get knowledge of trucking. Besides when I do get on the road I won't be able to talk to too many drivers anyways because I don't want to stand another shoot'n the crap with drivers. I'd rather keep my left door shut and make some money.

 

Your welcome

Oh and hot shot is where they use 1 ton picks up and pull trailers behind them usually hauling cars or flatbed freight. They are Less then a full truck load. They are still required to have a class A CDL and still have to run by DOT standards. But I know some people who have made good money doing this because it usually pays the same per mile as the big rigs, but hotshot's fuel mileage is so much better. The only problem with hotshot is sometime it's hard to find freight that you can haul since you can't haul 80,000 pounds. I really can't tell you anymore about it seeing as I've never done it, but I'm sure jtrnr can.

 

Yeah, it'd be interesting to learn more about hotshot. As far as Yungtrucker goes I wouldn't be optimistic based on his tone. Many the impetuous fool has jumped off the cliff of startup in transport industry. Go to community college and learn how to communicate (spell,) reason, and take some business classes.

 

Not trying to sound bullish here, however if you need to get $1.15 to breakeven it's best if you drive for someone else.



It's like this.



Insurance? + IFTA? + Plates + Vehicle payments? + Oil Change? + vehicle depreciation (eventually depending on year and mileage you will have to replace them)? + maintenance?
Now for the most important factor, money! You need at least $15,000+ in the bank just to start off.

I would put aside at least $1,000 per month for tractor and $350 for trailer. My vehicles drove for 3 months no repairs at all and then, one problem after another. We mainly run reefers, one of our units reached 10,000hours. Manufacturer states at this time you should replace; battery, alternator, starter, water pump, all belts, oil, filters, plus unit was due for its annual inspection and we knew she needed new brake shoes and well might as well replace the drums. Our parts bill $2,500. Lucky for me I do all of the labor. One of our trucks blew an exhaust manifold gasket while on the road by the time we got to the repair shop the hot gasses burnt out a few wires and also one of the AC lines cracked from the heat, after all said and done 1 tractor and 1 trailer repair cost $6,000 for the month.
Story to keep in mind. One of my friends had a 2002 Peterbuilt with a Cat. Just before Christmas he blew the motor, his Christmas bill was $24,000.

There are too many variables; however my set cost per unit is $3,000 to $3,500. The only reason we are still in business today is that all of our equipment is paid for. If you had to make monthly payments add another $1,500 for an average unit.