Part time O/O

If there was that much dough to be made don't you think that those of us that know the business would be doing that and sitting @ home watching the money roll in!

This is a terrible idea!

 

If all you want to do is make a truck payment then what are you going to pay your other bills with?

There's not enough margin in the industry to have a truck leased to a fleet, hire a driver and have an adequate ROI. If there was, we would ALL be doing it!

 

If you are willing to risk your investment capital and your credit for $0 to $15,000 per year. If you are willing to have it all riding on the back of a hired driver. If you are willing to expect $5,000 a year in ROI and profit. Then yes this may be for you.

Just realize a major breakdown can put you out of business if you don't have an extra $10,000 or more on hand or somewhere to borrow it. The truck payments will keep going while the truck is in the shop.

The driver will want you to pay him something while the truck is down or pay his motel or transportation home. If he leaves, the truck sets while you find another driver. Sure there are plenty of drivers but not so many good ones. A bad driver can cost you thousands before you can correct the situation.

It sounds like you are financially stable and could probably bear the additional expense of down time. There are no big bucks in a leased operation and a hired driver. If this is a means to something else then it may make sense.

Many owner operators make good money. They do it running their equipment themselves and with their own authority. Landstar is a better lease than many but you won't make enough off of one truck to do it for the money.

 

Once the truck is paid off you will need to save the payment money to replace it.

 

you will not make any money with 1 truck and paying a driver period ......many owner operators can hardly pay themselves

i know guys with 4 and 5 trucks that still have to drive full time to keep it going

 

Here's another way of saying the same thing. Carriers do lease deals based on a business plan that estimates owner pay at some amount, with the expectation that the owner is also the driver. The better carriers attract a quality driver and it works. Someone like you comes along and yes, you can do it. But you will have to assume all the equipment risk and hire a cheaper driver and/or buy cheaper equipment to carve out a margin, increasing your risk. If things go bad:

A. The carrier ends the lease and they're done with you in a moment.
B. The driver disappears and is done with you in a moment.
C. You now have an expensive lawn ornament until you replace A and/or B, which will take weeks if you hurry.

Bottom line, everyone else gets paid before you. You carry all the risk.

Do yourself a favor and complete a business plan. This free one from the SBA is an excellent template, and incidentally is the one I used. I'm not suggesting this to be another dick trying to make you feel bad. Seriously - complete the template and prove to yourself that your idea has merit. Before you start writing checks. The template is designed to make you think carefully about how this will work. You will have to make some calls and figure out markets and costs. It will take a few days to do it right. If you can't do that, or are depending on others with no stake in your success, you are already taking the first wrong step.