Have 80K to invest and want to start a trucking company looking for advice

Armyguy1152, I will see if I can private message you. Not sure you will get the results your looking for from the looks of the responses.

 

First of all, thank you for your service.

I think that it is good that you are seeking advice. I would suggest that go back and read old threads regarding this. There is a wealth of information here.

This is not an easy topic on the site, because there are an endless supply of people that come on to the site wanting to have a fleet of trucks without having actual driving experience.

I don't want to make your experience seem irrelevant, but dispatching trucks is very different than running this business and making a continual profit- especially if you have never driven and you will be required to depend on other people to do the work and suppliment your knowledge. Allaby is correct. It seems like alot, but $80,000 can go quickly in this business. I do not believe that is a sufficient amount to start with 2 trucks and other people driving them.

My cheap advice is for you to get your license. Running someone else's truck first is better, but if you must, run your own truck first, make it profitable, save your money, and if you can find lanes and freight that is profitable enough, then you can hire someone. If you can turn a profit, then do it again with another truck IF YOU CAN SEE THE PROFIT.

There are plenty of owner operators with plenty of experience that run their own truck that struggle, ESPECIALLY in the beginning. I don't think there is any industry with a higher percentage of new businesses that go under. You can do this, but it really has to be done one step at a time to be successful.

That's my .02 sir. Good luck.

 

Take the 80grand and invest it at bankyourwealth.com and get a company job that way you'll make money on it and won't waste it in this industry sorry but I gotta tell it like it is.

 

Remember that your gonna need at least 20,000 aside per truck for miscellaneous repairs and back up. Buy a freightliner 08-09 with an s60 motor. Try around 500k- 600k miles. Nothing fancy or heavy around 45k start dry van and take it one step at a time. Decent price 13k-20k for the van. Start slow and grow. Good luck and hang in there

 

Invest the Money here...
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...sk-an-owner-operator/239154-loan-at-25-a.html

 

Although it would be helpful to ask for knowledgeable help. I personally wouldnt buy anything that I personally didnt research or inspect. Auctions are a gamble but a dealership would be a better choice in my opinion. With a dealer u can get the oil samples, ecm report, dyno, dot etc. Before u purchase. At the dealers expense (hopefully) it doesnt have to be some big top dealer just one that has what you need and works with your situation

 

To a fellow service member you will go broke in a hurry trying to run 2 trucks and paying drivers while getting your loads off the load board. There isn't that much profit on the boards. If you want to do this I highly recommend you becoming a driver first so you can learn firsthand...... I think you will be surprised when you try to take $80000 and get two trucks going paying someone else. You may want to take a gander at what the insurance is going to cost also. Especially if you are trying to use fellow service members with no experience. And the insurance companies really don't care about how much time they had driving in the military. It's a whole new ball game and they want verifiable over the road experience. To get decent trucks and trailers you will spend most of that money or at least a good portion of it. Then insurance, plates operating funds......etc. You have a lot to learn and I hope I it doesn't cost you 80 thousand to find out how little you know. In all honesty you could put your $80000 in mutual funds and make more money than you will off of 2 trucks while paying a driver and running off the load board.
I will try and answer some questions for you but just like in the military you gotta have thick skin and realize that you really don't know. Your dad has 30 years experience, ask him his opinion on this matter. Also would he be willing to run the operation? Because you do not have the knowledge or Experience to run it. Did you ever see a SgtMaj with no experience? Didn't think so. There is a reason for that.
you may also want to take a look at some of the docked post at the top of the owner operators forum.
You will have a hard row to hoe, I started as an owner operator leased on to my brothers company.....he had 5 of his own trucks and 18 owner operators. He started with one truck as the driver himself. He now has 15 of his own trucks and 7 owner operators. And he also has a brokering company. But it has been a long haul. I had a lot of help and support from him and the other drivers that most people starting out don't get and it was and sometimes is still a tough business.
Nobody here wants to see you loose or piss away your money but it is yours to do as you please. Use it wisely.