Request Assistance with monthly and annual cost

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by CDL-A_NPST, Mar 30, 2026.

  1. CDL-A_NPST

    CDL-A_NPST Bobtail Member

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    With regard to 'Interstate' authority, I'm making a list of monthly and annual required payments of which I plan to set aside a weekly amount; I'll do intrastate another time. Do you agree with the itemized list below or, have I missed one or more item's?

    Fixed Monthly Insurance Cost:
    Commercial Auto Liability ($1M)
    Motor Truck Cargo Insurance ($100k)
    Physical Damage Insurance
    General Liability Insurance
    Total Insurance ($/mo)

    Regulatory & Compliance (Monthly Accruals:
    IRP (Apportioned Plates)
    HVUT (IRS Form 2290)
    IFTA Filing Services
    UCR (Unified Carrier Registration)
    Random Drug & Alcohol Consortium
    BOC-3 Process Agent Maintenance
    Total Compliance ($/mo)

    Technology & Software Subscription:
    ELD Subscription
    Load Board
    TMS / Dispatch Software
    Bookkeeping Software
    Dedicated Business Cell/Data Plan
    Total Technology ($/mo)

    Mandatory Maintenance & Professional Saving:
    Maintenance Escrow (Emergency Fund)
    Tire Replacement Fund
    Annual DOT Inspection Accrual
    Total Savings / Reserves ($/mo)
    MONTHLY TOTAL OVERHEAD ($/mo)
     
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  3. xsetra

    xsetra Road Train Member

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    You may also have to file mileage reports in Oregon, New Mexico, Kentucky and New York. You may have to register with New Jersey, not sure because I don't run in New Jersey. It's a business license or a business tax.
    You may want a $1 million umbrella liability policy in addition to your main truck insurance.
     
    The_vett Thanks this.
  4. DUNE-T

    DUNE-T Road Train Member

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    Don't forget repairs and downtime cost, which is an abstract number unless you know how to do wrenching yourself
     
  5. North Pole Nightmare

    North Pole Nightmare Road Train Member

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    Parking and Tolls,unless your tolls are with your eld package.
    I rented a spot in Houston for $200 a month,your parking situation might be different though.
     
  6. Judge

    Judge Road Train Member

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    Trucking office does TMS/keeps up with your paperwork you input/billing/mileage and has an ELD that will be free with your TMS subscription

    OOIDA if your a member has BOC agents for all states no extra.
    Plus ooida has a tire gold program for Bridgestone/Michelin account and do CMCI which is for drug testing consortium
     
    Oxbow and Siinman Thank this.
  7. GreenPete359

    GreenPete359 Road Train Member

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    What part of the country do you plan to do most of your operating? If the Northeast say Richmond north to Boston including PA & Upstate NY, give yourself $2-3,000/month in tolls. A lot of them can be avoided, if you have the time to go around.

    as was already stated, you’re missing state specific fuel/hwy taxes.
     
  8. CDL-A_NPST

    CDL-A_NPST Bobtail Member

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    Jan 20, 2026
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    Thank you all for the valid input. To clear up any ambiguity regarding the original post: this project is being developed by a company driver, not an Owner-Operator (OO). Neither an OO nor a lease-purchase path is a personal option.

    Following some research, a spreadsheet was drafted for potential new OOs and lessors to input figures. This allows for a financial snapshot of various career paths without the need to repeat common questions across multiple forums. Rather than discarding the research, it will be shared via an Excel workbook.

    TruckersReport is the ideal source for filling in any missing data. To be clear, this tool is primarily focused on potential new OOs, lease-ops, or lease-purchasers. While it may be difficult for the project to be entirely all-inclusive, it provides a solid monetary picture of a chosen path.

    The workbook includes five (5) customizable profiles:

    • #1: Lease/Purchase – Based on Lone Mountain numbers extracted from a sales-rep video.

    • #2: Prime Inc. Options – Covers both Lease and Lease-Purchase.

    • #3: Pre-DPF/DEF Trucks – Expenses for this configuration compared to the options above.

    • #4: Cost of Living (COL) – Includes "brick-and-mortar" housing expenses. This COL is added to each profile subtotal to help determine the required gross income.
    Users can add or remove data as needed. The .xlsx file will be provided in a compatible zip upload. Please post any input that can be verified with an online, public-facing document. If the calculations for these additions can be integrated across multiple sheets, they will be added. Otherwise, a note will be included on the sheet for the user to decide.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. 86scotty

    86scotty Road Train Member

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    Sounds like another human working on an AI project to make more humans irrelevant.

    Best of luck.
     
  10. RushmoreTrucker

    RushmoreTrucker Light Load Member

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    You know what? Nah. Worst of luck to the AI people. An industry of integrated AI boards and stuff for loads would look like infinite, even worse Amazon Relay. I refuse to even consider pulling for them because, I think, if you pay attention, the more complicated ways Amazon manipulates rates internally to get trucks dropping and hooking for company driver pay and doing 14 stops for full truckload pay, and making people run several unprofitable, super cheap loads to "get a score", and all of those things, they're as bad as TQL, maybe worse.

    AI cares even less than the worst broker you've ever talked to on the worst day of their life. The way these systems can network together? No, we should never provide capacity for places that do what Amazon does. There's no upside. It can only make things worse for the trucker, and in most ways, even for the broker! Almost certainly for the shipper too.
     
    Siinman, blairandgretchen and 86scotty Thank this.
  11. 86scotty

    86scotty Road Train Member

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    I'm no friend of AI but I have a couple of friends who are using AI in their very technical engineering jobs. I explained to one of them the other day how AI is taking over brokerages and he laughed out loud. His response was that automated phone bots is about the worst possible use of AI imaginable and the more I think of it the more he's right. As a way to store and organize information it has it's advantages. As a glorified answering machine for a phone system it's just causing more chaos.
     
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