New driver with own authority advice

A quick way to deplete an above average savings is trucking.

I’m not saying it cannot be done but it’s gonna involve some luck where the truck is concerned. Even with doing your due diligence as it’s referred to before purchase you can still be hit hard with break downs. A little luck goes a long way. Another thought is a 50k truck is bringing a 100 plus right now. Yes the money is good but will not last forever.

As far as the retired police officer, having your authority active before getting out of school and still being in business at all much less profitable in 3 years is a long way apart. From the outside it looks easy. Just ridin an guidin there can be more to it



As far as if it doesn’t work why can’t he resale the truck?.......Well he can but when he sees it isn’t working may be after the crash in the market. Last time I seen trucks that were 6 months old sell for 35k at Ritchie bro’s auction. They were endless it seemed. So what’s an over priced well used truck worth at that time?


Again I’m not saying you can’t do it, I just agree it’s not for the faint of heart

 

I've had second thoughts about my own post in this thread, and of course, I was writing as a rookie myself (doing the same thing as you). What I also think is that anyone who tries this is going to have to do a huge amount research on his own. And even then, it's going to be a challenge. Having just graduated from CDL school I can't begin to count the things they didn't teach me there. And that I only know about because of my own interest and research into trucking. Things like how to slide tandem axles/5th wheels and distribute load properly, how to use a CAT scale, how to go through a DOT weigh station, all the details of forming your own authority, all the various setup approaches that need to be used in successful semi-truck backing (let alone the different backing techniques themselves), how to locate and interact with shipping/receiving offices in distribution centers, how to process Bills of Lading, what the various spot market load boards are and what they require to join...and on and on. Lately I've been waking up in a cold sweat wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew. Especially since finding out that I'm not a natural at backing semi's (but good enough to pass the tests, I suppose).

Well anyway, I'm plowing ahead. But this is going to be extremely hard work. I'll leave you with a couple more links - out of the probably more than 100 that I've bookmarked so far - just in case they may be helpful.

Best Book (that I've found, but it's outdated in many respects) - 'Bumper to Bumper'
Best Technical Trucking Youtube Channel - 'My Trucking Skills'
Best Advice on Buying Insurance - search for O/O "insurance" threads here, then copy/paste relevant info

Best Computer Simulator - 'American Truck Simulator' heavily modded. Will teach you some things about backing approaches and trailer 'off tracking', but this game hasn't helped me in the real world as much as I'd hoped.

Good luck, and heaven help both of us!