I'll run under your authority

You are kidding, right?

Just go and be a company driver.

Why do I say this?

Because you don't have a clue of what it takes to buy a truck.

 

Are you gona buy a white Vulva? Because if so i know a guy that would love to have you

 

Get Real, Doesn't work like that

 

You just getting your feet wet. I'm not trying to put you down but think about that for a minute. Owning a truck is not the same as just being a driver. It is a business that you are starting. If you really want to buy a truck that's great. What do you want to haul? That will depend of what you buy. You may want to continue working as a company driver for a little while longer and learn more about running the business side of it. Either way good luck.

 

Smh

 

I know a guy that will let you run for them and purchase the truck over 18 months or 24 months depending on the payment you pick.

 

Lol surely you’re joking

 

I have some ocean front property in Az I'll sell ya cheap, even finance it

 

Okay, first thing, the internet does not convey the proper tone of voice, so please remember that when reading what I type - it may sound rude, but I am not meaning it to be.

With the little bit of experience you have, I suggest you do not rush out to buy a truck because you believe it's a cash cow. I've been driving for 10 years, and researched the L/P aspect since '10 and recently came to the conclusion that it wasn't for me. It may work for some other guys, but not for me.

Your best bet is to remain a company driver for 2-4 more years, and do the research into buying your truck.

Start a spreadsheet and put in all projected expenses that you can think of, and check into what those expenses are, up to, including, but not limited to: bobtail/DH ins, 2290, IFTA, fuel, trailer rental, repairs, etc. For the fuel, I based my consumption on 2,500 miles a week at $3/gal with a crappy fuel economy of 5mpg. That gave me a projected cost of $1,500 a week for fuel. This can vary as some people will run harder, and some will run lazy. When I did my calculation, the national avg for fuel was $3/gal, so make sure you take that into consideration as well.

If you are paid on %, then you also need to track how much those loads are (allegedly) paying. This goes by the Linehaul, not the gross, not everyone offers a fuel surcharge.

You also should lay out your expenses at home. Rent/Mortgage, utilities, car ins, etc. in the spreadsheet as well. Break it all down into what you need to bring home on a daily basis to just break even. To make sure you get ALL of your expenses (truck related AND home) paid for. Use that number as a basis.

Call around to some brokers, and ask about available freight. Now, this can get tricky because some brokers don't want to talk to drivers (as drivers aren't always authorized to get freight), but there is a way around this. I used to drive for a company that had 50 or so trucks on the road. The owner was in the building every day, and had no problem talking to his drivers. I talked to him and got permission to find my own loads if they were unable to find me one within a respectable amount of time. So... Using this as a template - if you work for a small enough company, run that by them (Hey boss, I was just wondering. If I've been sitting for a couple of hours, and you guys can't find me a load, would it be okay for me to check out some loadboards or call some brokers to try and find one?) and they might say yes. The worst that will happen is what, they will say no? If you drive for a mega, they are going to say no, but what you can do there is call a broker anyway and look for freight, but tell them you are a driver and need to get authorization from the boss to accept it. You don't commit to the load, but you document the deadhead miles, the rate, and the loaded miles. You do this a few dozen times, and you get an idea at what type of money you're looking at *possibly* making. Rates change, so any information you have now, may not be the same in a year, 6 months, or even 2 weeks.

I know I said to break it down to a daily minimum, but that doesn't mean you shoot for the minimum. Let's say your daily break even (remember, this is for the truck AND the house) is $600 a day. You set that as your bare-bones minimum you will make in any given day. You try for higher (after all, who doesn't want to make a profit?), but never go below that minimum. As long as you don't go below the minimum, you will at least break even, and you shouldn't lose your house and/or truck. I can't say anything about an SO though.

As for these guys:

While they haven't quite broken the rules, there is something to be said for having tact - in which they apparently have none.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions (i have myself, on here - and also received less than polite responses), as it is better to ask questions and make an informed decision vs jumping blindly into something without knowing exactly what you are getting yourself into.

If you would like to have questions answered without being bullied, please feel free to PM me.

edit: phrasing