Own authority, vs running under someone's numbers?

Working for a carrier you will either be paid by the mile or percentage. If they have lots of trucks, you will likely get insurance for less than what you will pay for it on your own with 1 truck. They might have better fuel and tyre discounts than you can find on your own. They will cover the cost of fuel and take it out of your settlements. They will do all the IFTA, NYHUT, OR tax, NM tax, and take it off your settlement. They will find work for you, either through their own direct accounts or through brokers. You are more or less the same as a company driver, but now you are paying your own truck note and running a relatively simple business where all of your revenue comes from the carrier you are signed on with. Percentage rates vary, some as high as 30%, others as low as 10%. The deals of who pays what will be defined in an agreement before you begin work. Maybe they take 30%, but that covers all your insurance, ifta, all other road taxes, and plates. Some might take 10% but charge you for each and every item. All deals are different and it's difficult to say which one is better than the other. You will most likely have a regular payment schedule.

On your own, you will file all your own ifta and road taxes. You will pay your own 2290. You will find your own fuel card (or pay cash) and seek out the best discount program you can find. Same thing goes for tyres. You will find all of your own work, whether it be through you going out and finding your own direct customers or going through brokers (example tql and chr) to start. You will have multiple revenue streams and days to pay rather than one structured revenue stream where you know the cheque is there every x date. You will buy your own insurance. You will bill for every load you do. You will wait to be paid, some customers will pay you cod, others will wait 90 days and when you call they will tell you some BS excuse as to where the money is. All the while you will have paid out immediately for fuel, repairs, etc. Good luck telling the fuel pump you will "pay them in 90 days .... or so." Same for the bank if you have payments and your mechanic wants his money immediately too. For these reasons you have to have a large enough safety pool of cash while you are waiting for payment. You will setup your own authority and you will be directly responsible for maintaining all your maintenance files, drug testing, employee hiring files, keeping all your permits up to date, and filing everything on time.

All of that sounds daunting at first. Once you have a year or 2 under your belt all the filings and stuff really isn't hard to maintain. The bigger hurdle is finding good enough paying work where you will know you are doing better on your own than you would be paying a percentage to a company. For many people, they feel they are better off being signed onto a company rather than on their own. It's one of those things where everyone's situation is different. I just happen to be very bold headed and really don't care for being told what to do. I also live in a very busy freight lane which makes it relatively easy for me to thrive on the spot market. I also have a distant dream of maybe someday having a small fleet of my own so I can drive a desk.

I am sure I have forgotten some stuff ... but if anyone actually reads all that I won't have completely wasted the last 5 minutes. Hah. If you have specific questions throw them out they will be answered. (except if you ask who to haul for)

 

For one truck operation is not worth it IMO, unless you have some good customers supplying you with steady work

 

Look up @double yellow and @blairandgretchen, they both have posted thier experiences from day one on. DY having his own authority and Blair running for Landstar.

 

Then DY's thread will apply more to you. You may as well start your own authority, if they have a flatbed company I'm sure it's safe to assume they won't be much help on having good paying van freight? Or have a dispatcher who is skilled at finding van freight? Might as well keep the percentage they would take plus there's always the risk of mixing business with family

 

Possibly. But not enough to cover the percentage they would charge.

 

I assume being family, they would help you in this venture? Help you find loads, good paying freight, good brokers vs bad brokers and what you should be making to sustain your current lifestyle.

 

I am interested in starting my own business and not completely sure if I should go under someone else authority number.