should an O/O get their own authority?

I've been an O/O for 3 years. I've always liked the idea of not being connected to a company & have investigated it a bit in the past but couldn't afford to get started. I've recently come in contact with another individual who would like to start a trucking business & has all the money to get started as a joint venture.

I still have reservations, however. So, a few questions:

How much could I expect to be paid for dry van loads? Or for refeer loads? How much should I expect to pay to buy a decent used refeer? How much would the monthly maintenance be for it?

Also, I previously drove a 1997 Freightliner but have just had it parked since I got into a lease-purchase program in a newer Volvo. I'm trying to decide about keeping the Freightliner & running it. It has 900,000 miles and I've fixed QUITE A LOT on it already. I hate to throw the money I've spent down the drain. What do you think I could expect to pay monthly for maintenance on it?

 

You're not quite clear on the exact terms of the "joint venture". If you are basically going to be paying all of your costs of operating the truck and trailer, including permits, plates, taxes, etc., then if you are not going to get at least $1.75 a mile to the truck including fuel surcharges, then you'll be backing up. If you are doing a great deal of east coast, and west coast, then that figure should be topping $2.00 a mile. If you are operating in the lower cost states, such as the southeast, some of the midwest, and the south, then you can afford to take a little less, but not much less.

Remember that you get what you pay for. A decent refrigerated trailer with an updated and efficient unit, will set you back $17,000 to $22,000, and for that price, it should be around five years in age, free of major repair work on the inside, and with a straight and level floor. Always look at the walls, the floor, and the kingpin areas of a reefer trailer very closely. Rotten floors are hard to spot, so walk it on the inside to find any soft spots. I would also start the unit, and make sure it will get below freezing in a decent amount of time, to also gauge the usefulness of the trailer. Trailer door seals and the condition of the doors themselves are critical to how well it will do the job, so inspect them as well.

Assuming that you will buy one with decent tires and a good working unit, expect to budget a couple of hundred dollars per month for maintenance. Do that, and you'll be prepared for things when they crop up.

If you are confident of the condition of the truck, then by all means run it. Of course, the maintenance on a truck with that many miles will be more than it would on an newer one, but if you know how to keep it in check, and to drive a truck with the care that an older one deserves and needs, then you'll do fine. Take care of things as they need to be taken care of, and small problems will not turn into big ones.

I'd advise you to set back $500.00 a month for repairs and maintenance religiously, until you have a comfortable egg nest of about ten grand. If at any time you expect to rebuild the engine, double that amount before it's time to do it.

 

Thanks! I appreciate your help. I'll probably think of more questions in the future.

 

rerun - you're very defensive. Not sure how I offended you. Yes, I have been an o/o for 3 yrs. That doesn't mean that I know what the drivers who have their own authority get paid. I've heard people talk about how much more you can make than when you're leased to a carrier & I've heard people say that it's not really all that big of a difference. Just wondering.

You have a good point as far as the other person I was talking about going in to business with.

As far as the maintenance thing, I've always been leased to a carrier that has a shop & when things go wrong with my truck, they fix it. Then my bill gets divided up & subtracted over weeks from my paychecks. So, no - I don't have a good idea of what I'd need to put aside if I had to cover everything up front. You can call me the dumbest o/o if you want to but it is what it is. I'll say that you're the most bitter.

I'll never succeed in the trucking industry........... that's what I'm worried about. I have a famly at home & I can't stay out for too long. The way things have been going for me is that every other week I get a good check & the weeks in between suck - they're like burgerworld checks!

It's not like I feel that I need to defend myself to you, it's just that your so pompous & so wrong!

 

i don't know why my response was deleted, but to me, you're still a very uneducated O/O and for the past 3 years or so, not to have kept an "eye" on operating, maintenance costs, etc. i think you were being lead around by the bull ring in your nose.............

sad day when an O/O dosen't "know" anything, as you stated,........

 

Yeah you do.

He's hardly alone. I have never seen in your often quoted resume that you have been in business for yourself, so I doubt seriously that you are any more prepared to know what it takes to get started and/or exist on your own without the benefit of being leased to a motor carrier. But you'll sit there and assess someone else's situation and knowledge level based on a couple of questions.

The risks that he is considering are extremely elevated. The working capital and/or credit needed to begin such a venture is far different than leasing on to a motor carrier, and if anyone DIDN'T have questions or concerns, I would offer that they are truly being foolish to rush into something like that.

People that lease on to a carrier usually do not risk not being paid if the customer defaults. The carrier bridges that gap. Lessors have the advantage of having most, if not all of their operating costs deducted from their settlements. Those that lease to motor carriers, unless they are being paid on a percentage basis, are often oblivious to freight rates. All they keep track of is that per-mile figure that pertains to them.

Contrast this to an environment where you may have to wait thirty days or more to be paid for your work. If you intend to remain in business, you need to keep working, and there is no one to front the cost of running that truck. You're completely on your own.

If you ask me, and I am completely aware that you did not, the man hasn't even begun to scratch the surface in coming to some idea of what he needs to know in order to make that leap.

I find it a sadder state of affairs, when people who are likely to be even more clueless than those they criticize, are arrogant enough to expose the fact that the podium that they are casting stones and looking down upon others from, is made of glass.

I made it as clear that the unwarranted insulting of posters in these forums will not be tolerated, and nothing has changed on that front. If you insist on being a jerk towards people, then I'll wear out my "delete" button, and order a new one if I have to.

We are here to help and assist one another. We play nice in this sandbox, and if that's something you cannot understand and abide by, then there are plenty of playgrounds out there where you can attempt to be the bully.

 

for an "owner-operator", leased on with an other company or not, it was his responsibility to get to know everything there is/was to know about the business. there are no excuses, only ignorance on their part. to simply "drop off the truck for repairs at the company garage", and not know the cost involved with the repairs is again, ignorance. just maintaining the mileage as it pertained to him at the time was inefficent book keeping again, on his part. he had plenty of time to get to know the business in those so-called 3 years as an O/O, but he failed to do so. so now, he was "talking" with someone who wanted to "go into business" with him. again, ignorance prevails, as he doesn't really claim to know that person really well enough for this venture. he could lose all that he's got now, which doesn't seem like much. he claimed he had an older rig, with 900,000 miles on it. do you (turbo trucker) mean to sit there and think that he shouldn't have ANY clue as to what type of repairs will be needed and soon, and if he's got no money now, the repairs will bury him.....???


no, i never "owned" any business, either the auto repair shop i worked in for several years, or any trucking job either. but i had to "do the books" at the repair shop, and you bet your ###, i had to know the CODB figures each and every month, and things had to match those figures.

running "ANY BUSINESS" is difficult, but i find it completey difficult to believe that after 3 years as an O/O as he claimed, he ain't learned anything, except, the time away from home.......PERIOD......

and by the way, i will continue to "voice" my opinions, so be prepared to order that new "delete button"..................

 

Your first paragraph needs no response, for in it you have interjected issues that were never raised by anyone, and this leaves me to question your ability to comprehend what you read.

That's not quite the same thing, now is it? Since the subject at hand involves trucking, and questions from someone seeking to understand the cost associated with evolving from a lessor to one who would be truly considered an Owner/Operator, it's only natural that he would be in unfamiliar territory, and I fail to see where you would be in any position to offer YOUR criticism to him, when your closest claim to fame is keeping books for a repair shop.

Again...you're ASSuming too much, ReRun. Neither you nor myself are in any position to know what this man has learned about a thing. He asked a couple of questions, and they deserved some answers. What they did not deserve was your brand of physiological ANALyzation.

No poster to date has been banned from the site, but if you insult ONE more poster with the kind of crap that you did to the gentleman above, expect to be the first. Opine on subjects. Opine on issues. The next time you attack a poster with your opinion, you're out of here.

 

do you think that running a repair shop takes no intellegence at all...?

do you know the day to day costs of running a garage, with labor rates, insurance, electricity bills, how much in repair volume MUST be done THAT day to break even first, then turn a profit....?

trucking and a repair garage are indeed 2 seperate business's, but the management of running both AS A BUSINESS are just about the same. fail to meet the daily quota of repairs, and maybe the electric bill only gets half paid for that day.....or maybe you gotta send home one or two of the mechanics home earlier than usual, to cut the labor expense for that day.

failure to not know ANY business means failure......PERIOD. obviously, you haven't run ANY business yourself, now have you......??


business principals are just about the same for any business, the original poster, not knowing anything substaintal for the 3 years, and especially not knowing what repairs/cost to his now 900,000 mile rig, tell me he hasn't got a chance for survival, not only as an owner-operator, but in any descisions he makes concerning his and his families future. his best bet is to remain a leased operator, or turn in the keys, and become a company driver.

again, his ignorance prevails, and you too do not see his doom.

 

RERUN>>>A leased driver probably has some concept, but is asking for the experience and advice of people who are a) in the know, and b) won't give him a bunch of crap and false information. This man has no way of knowing that an owner/op with his own authority may make 1.30 per mile, vs the .85 he's making now, or the .30 he'd make as a company driver. He probably has little idea of the actual costs of permits, license, insurance requirements, and hidden costs. These are all factors you don't really know about, even if you have some idea that you are going to get into your account pretty deep, until you are going through the process. Also consider, there may be some chance that he OVERSIMPLIFIED his question to make sure he was getting the response he needed. He ASKED for advice, not for you to kick him in the teeth for trying.