Owning a company

That is too general a statement to give a definitive answer. It isn't cheap. Class 8 equipment is expensive to purchase and costly to maintain. We have taxes coming out our ears. You can put a ten owners in a room and each will have different costs. Costs will vary according to the type of operation and whether you own new or used equipment. Some people do a better job with maintenance than others.

 

I wish I could give you exact answers, but that isn't the way it works. However, we can break some costs down to a point where you can get a general idea of some variable costs, such as fuel. For instance, if fuel is selling for $4/gallon and a truck gets 5 mpg, your operational costs for fuel will be $0.80/mile. If a truck gets 7 mpg, your fuel costs will be $0.57/mile. Those costs could vary according to fuel mileage, any fuel discounts and the average cost for fuel. This is not all the costs involved, but it is usually your most expensive single cost. Another cost would be payments. If your payments are $1,000/month your operational costs would be different than if you had a $2,500/monthly payment. I believe we did a sticky on the forum that breaks down the costs of operations and what it costs to get your authority and run a truck. It isn't exact, but does list a number of variable and fixed costs of running a truck.

Are you in school now?

 

It varies per company. If you want to break it down if the truck DOESNT MOVE all year and you have a $1500/month truck payment, and $750 in insurance plus your plate it costs you around $27000/year if the truck just sits there and is a yard ornament. Does that give you a small idea of what it costs to just own a truck? Running it? Figure on 12000 miles a month, 1 service per month at $350, at 6mpg for easy math that's 2000 gallons of fuel at $4/gallon is 8000+350+1500+750 that gives you 10600/month to run on, if you average 2.00/running mile that's a gross of $24000/month so right there just in fuel, and P.M. you have almost 50% of your money going to cost. That's not figuring in a breakdown fund, overhaul fund, tire fund, and a driver wage.

If we pay the driver .50/mile (easy math once again) we have another $6000 in driver wages. Now were at 16600 and still only at $24000 gross, put away .05/mile for tires, .10/mile for an overhaul, and .10/mile for a breakdown (hell I've had a bill for $500 for a 10 minute winch out and were now at 19600 and 24000 gross. Are you now seeing how much it costs to own and maintain a truck? Nope its not cheap. Out of 24000 that you make each month, over 19000 goes right back to that truck.

Now imagine trying to make it if you're getting a lot less than 6mpg. I have watched my fuel mileage go from high 5s low 6s all the way down to low to mid 3s. I fueled where it was cheap a few times with my last fuel statement. From 9/24-9/27 I burned 778.636 gallons of fuel. Total fuel cost in 3 days? 3050.19 total gross in those 3 days? $6820.44 after trailer rental my check was $5700.83 take out the fuel cost and it's $2650.64 after operating cost and expenses I took home about $1000 for 3 days worth of work. Now here's the HUGE kicker. I was paid on 1738 miles. On 5 loads. Not any of those were even close to the miles actually driven. According to some bullhaulers are paid round trip...eh not this one. From 9/24-9/27 I ran 3700 miles on the hub. 3700x.25 is $925 for operating cost. Like I said not much meat left on the bone there. Of the loads I ran those days I had 1 that was less than 49000lbs. I had 2 that were over 52000lbs, of those 2 one load was over 54000lbs. That is also why in 3 days $925 went into a maintenance fund. I run my truck hard and I have too I'd rather pay myself a little less and make sure that truck is covered in case something happens. It costs a lot to run a truck and keep them up to snuff. Its not easy but its what some of us chose to do.

 

Its the ability to be able to know these costs and how to minimize costs so you can turn a profit that keeps a lot of truckers as company drivers and not owner operators. Its also the inability to think like a business owner and run your truck as a business that makes a lot of new truck owners fail and claim they made no money.

 

Before you even consider buying a truck, you really should spend at least 1-2 years as a company driver. You never want to enter any business without some understanding of how that business works. You should also have a decent amount of money saved up before buying a truck. As a company driver you will begin to gain a basic understanding about this business and how it works.

 

You'd make a lot more money driving someone else's truck. Probably live longer too.