Lease to Someone or get authority and go for it?

Your insurance cost I going 2 be astronomical 2 start. Very few will even write the policy. Also do you have a truck or cash in hand 2 purchase? Will be 1-500 who will finance someone your age with no otr or previous track record of running a business for any truck without a lot of cash in hand. I would say unfortunately 4 your plans you will need 2 run 4 someone else till you build time and cash up.

 

If you act as I know it all no one will help you and that is how you are acting

 

End of the day it is a math problem. I am considering going back to my old carrier that allowed me to self-dispatch and run the same loads that I am doing. My insurance is now running me over 12% of my gross revenue. For another 8% I can not worry about anything else. Is that worth it? Still trying to decide.

 

Which one are you going back to

 

Farm2Fleet

 

There is some grey area in all that. Definitely carb compliant on newer trucks but, if you notice in this picture is a 1979 Kenworth W900A, it still has an old 3406 Cat under the hood and will roll coal all day long. Friend of mine owns it and delivers California all the time. I will have to ask him the details on all of it. Maybe not being there but once or twice a month maybe? My advise to the OP would be go newer and be done with it just as you mentioned.

 

I was where you are once...Best advise I can give you is don't try and lease on, DONT file for authority to drive somebody else's truck for a few more years and then try.

Sorry I don't give a #### how many generations have done it before you, insurance will eat you alive at your age as I said I've been there before.

You've had a CDL for a year that's all the experience an insurance company is going to give you...IF YOURE LUCKY. They don't give 2 ####s that you drove farmer Joe's grain truck to the elevator on a regular operators license under his private carrier insurance.

You're immediately limited to mega carriers who hire at 21 beings you don't meet the experience requirements for or age requirements for most carriers who begin to pay well.

As previously stated I've been there if I could do it all over again I never would have bought a truck and would have done it the way I'm suggesting.

I've got my own digits and I've been leased it's a struggle when you're that age regardless but I can tell you off the bat insurance will run you 10-20/year depending on what you have for a radius etc. On your own digits and progressive will be the only option you have aside from companies like farm bureau who will write commercial policies that are more of a headache than what they are worth.

You can figure on your own digits 20% down on your insurance plus plates figure no less than $1500 it'll take a month before your authority clears (it's just a dot number that goes on the truck now but you'll still need operating authority I believe). It's a lot more than what you think it is. Then you're looking 30 days or more to pay from the time the broker gets the bills after you've hauled the load.

All to live what they consider the american nightmare I suppose. And let's not forget about downtime and breaks downs. It's taken a month for me to get leased on with the outfit I'm with now. The last 2 weeks the truck has moved a total of 400 miles or there abouts not 1 mile has earned any revenue. It was 103 to orientation just to get sent home to have a rear axle housing welded that took 3 days. Left again Tuesday for orientation put the PTO pump and orbit motor on the truck wendsdya went to have brackets and a valve mounted on the frame and then took the truck to the hydraulic shop to have lines made truck sat there till 4 yesterday all no revenue and days down. Oh yea did I mention not counting lost revenue it's about $5000 I've shelled out in 2 weeks just on the truck? And haven't had the change to haul a load yet?

Like I said I've been there before it's not what you think it's going to be and I decided to shell out $5000 in 2 weeks and not move because the past 18 months of grain hauling has finally gone to hell and the money has dried up. So the grass wasn't any greener over there.

Like I said my advise go drive a company truck for a few years and get some experience before jumping into the shark tank. That's just my advise

 

I have my own authority and it was the worst mistake that I made. I figured the insurance costs would go down as you got experience but I am hearing guys talk about increases. Can't make sense of it at these rates and then an increase? No way.

 

Insurance will be expensive as a new entrant whether you have been a company driver or not. It will go down after a year with no claims and good driving and even more over the next two years after. I'm speaking 100% from experience. And if I was you and had the work to make through your first year, I'd go get my own authority.......that's what I did.