New driver going straight to O/O

I'm sure there is. Love this site hahahaha

 

Just a minor detail that wannabe's overlook...

 

Welcome to the forum highwolf.Just because your dad was successful in his sign business doesn't mean you're going to be successful.What does he and your aunt think about this?What kind of signs does your father make?Did he jump in without knowing anything about the sign business?You without any exp ,your choices of companies are limited.Let me know what container companies you have your eyes set on.Not only insurance companies may not accept you as a member said but companies as well without exp.The way the economy is the price of fuel and everything else,many O/O and leasees don't succeed.It's not from lack of trying but either too expensive and they're not making any kind of a profit or companies don't give them the miles that was promised to them.You better do a lot of math to see if this is even worth trying before taking the big leap.

 

OK lets break this down some. Here are my list of questions for you

1 what do you know of trucking

2 what do you know of truck repair.(not I am mechanical smart) but what do you know. can you handle a break job rearend replacement tranny replacement motor repair and so on.

3 what do you know of money planning. do you have any

those 3 questions are a big part to being an O/o. Not saying that's all of it either just the big ones. Your number one cost is fuel second is repairs. Now you said your looking at used. well everything from 1996 to 2007 is getting prices of 15 to 30k why is simple Everyone is trying to dump newer trucks and buy older to save on emmisions. So the cost of buying is going up. Being an Owner I can tell you it is a different world. Its not like working for a company and come Friday you get off and forget work till Monday. I spend my weekends fixing and maintaining my trucks so they can go out and run with out break downs during the week. Course as anyone here knows even the best maintance program can not stop a random breakdown so they still happen from time to time. which those breakdowns can cost thousands quickly. best of luck

 

I had about 4 months experience before I bought my truck. It's been 3 years and I have 2 payments left. People forgot its a 24 hrs day job. If you don't have a 5 year commitment , you will fail no matter how much money you start out with. You have to do what right for your operation. Discipline is the key to success.

 

And starting out consider yourself lucky if you break even your first couple of years. I lost money the first two years. Learning curve is steeper with little to no experience. You won't be efficient at many things. That's why I always say get experience and hone your driving skills, learn how to deal with shippers and receivers. You'll lose a lot of time out here getting into those simple routines and it gets to a lot of folks. You don't even know if you care to deal with the ordinary everyday "that's trucking". All these guys saying they wished they had right from the start are already cut out for trucking, hindsight is always 20/20.

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I lose money every year. never do I show a profit. but there is a reason for that. make money 2 years in a row and the irs is hammering you in taxes. Key I do is buy buy and buy. I buy trucks for parts and I buy parts just to have on hand than for some reason the parts are gone and I need more...lol we try to avg 3 to 5 trucks a year. try for classic xl and always detroits....