Need a little help

Break-even is under a dollar. Usually around 75 to 80 cents with around $2k per month truck and trailer combined payments. This is with fuel at current prices of course.

If you're going to team you have as good or better a shot as anyone out there. Pretty ideal really.

 

SBA is a good route to go, the banks like it becuase IF you defualt, they still get thier money, but you owe to gooberment for years

if either you or your husband has ever served in the military, your chances increase.......also there are other places that fund high risk operations....

any way, here is a copy of my BP for the SBA.....7 different versions of this BP have passed muster, and gotten loan garentee.....
feel free to use it as a BASE plate for your own......your own research is required as costs have changed alot since 2007

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...r/23807-wegners-trucking-llc-a-sample-bp.html

also dont be afriad to try more than one bank......some just dont like the SBA headache......and trust me, as a goverment agency they are not fast




to the rest about buying a truck.....i got one fer sale, me and about 10.000 other o/o's
now is not a good time to get into it
under $1/m break even? nice
did you include paying yourself?
mine's about .97 but i get paid alot.....lol

 

I don't include myself in break-even.

But that figure gives me an idea of what I'll make beyond that to make a decision. Generally $1.18 would position me for a 50k year, but that's assuming 3000 miles and a relatively reliable truck.

 

now lady im not going to call you old dont think you are your only as old as you feel im 65 years young and strill going strong and ive been an owner operator for almost 50 years, i bought my own truck before i was old enough to get a drivers license and ther was no such thing as a cdl or a truck driving school.
it really depend on how bad you want it as far as being an owner operator is concearned, can you make money at it , hell yes and there will be nobody looking over your shoulder. and nobody can tell you what to do and that is a good thing .
can you afford it well now that depends, you probably cant afford a new truck but in reality just starting out you dont want one overhead will be to high and just starting out that is your worst enemy to give you an example why would you buy a 150.000 dollor truck to haul a 2000 dollor load with a payment of about 2000.00 payment you would be beat befor you start.
i have 5 tractors and trailers and about to buy number 6 and im only going to pay 7000.00 for the truck a 379 pete now this old pete will make as much money and more then a new one and if it breaks down i got the time to fix it and keep on going.
now im not trying to emply that being an owner operator is easy but at the end of the month when you check your bank balance there is always money ther providing you have kept your overhead low , that is the main reason an owner operatror fails OVERHEAD that really make it hard.
the two things you have to decide DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO IT and can you and your man agreeon doing it and that is key if you want it YOU CAN DO IT and yes you can make money at it even with this econamy.
i willnever discourage any one from being an owner operator if you buy a truck and you start out with a good company and watch your money you will be sitting pretty in 6 months and the more you run the better off you will be .
and dont listen to all the gloom and doom out here its just what you make it . hope this has helped and at the same time encouraged you.
good luck and happy trailes .----southernpride

 

Personally, I wish more people were like your husband, these trucking companies that treat people like crap would have to get their act together or go under less nobody would work for them.

I am figuring that I can spend about 80k total on truck, headache rack, RGN rails, securement, etc. And still bring in good money, you just have to watch your dead-head, etc. Fortunately for me the company that ill be leased with for the first six months pays .81 per mile for empty miles and plus nickel and dimes you with extra's.

To be honest, I've heard the buy a throw away truck thing hundreds of times.. But i think i'd rather have a high truck payment and a reliable truck than have to worry about breakdowns.. at least i can plan on having that high payment every month, above all else, breakdowns are every man for himself and there is really no way to plan for it.. Even if you already have the money put aside to fix whatever might go wrong you are still losing double the money if not more, just by sitting.. So you are spending money in a repair account but not making any.. It's lose lose.. Ofcourse this is just my opinion but i'd think you're capable of doing it either way, you just have to run lean and be careful with your dead-head, etc.

I am getting ready to make the leap for my first time as well, so i've been trolling the O/O boards for advice, and so far i've found alot of gems.. This is an excellent place to start, and you are doing the right thing. You definitely have your head on straight and seem incredibly smart about all of this.. You're certainly someone i wouldn't mind having on my side!

I wish you both the best of luck, remember, there are still brand new petes running up and down the road with more chrome than you can shake a stick at, and for that reason i simply refuse to believe that there isn't money to be made out there.

 

Not having house payments and minimal bills is a good thing but you'd still be crazy to try it without a $10K-$15k cushion in the bank. If borrowing and buying new it doesn't matter that the warranty covers your repairs. What's going to cover your payment if you're down a week or more in a month? Buying used you can expect to spend money fixing things if you don't catch everything on the unit before you buy it. You can't always discover everything until you pull a few loads anyways. Mistakes are never cheap.

 

That post has me pumped up! Thanks Southernpride! :smt038