hello, i am going through school now to get my licence.I have enough money saved for a truck and trailer ruffly $60 k. I have driven before for a while with a friend on my permit and know the basics of being an O/O but i figured i ask again. Will any freight companies find me freight with my own truck and trailer but me being straight out of school??? any advice on this question is appreciated.Thank You.
Have you checked on insurance? Good luck finding it with no current experience. I wish you luck. but my money is on you being busted in 6 months.
only my opinion but i would just leave that money in the bank at the moment just go drive for a company a few months get your feet wet as you drive and get a check each week you can get a better idea what kind of truck you want what kind of trailer you want to pull where you want to drive when you want to get home then you can go buy a truck lease the truck onto a company under their authority as you get your feet wet being an O/O they will supply trailer authority and insurance etc and find you all your loads later you can get your own authority and trailer and strike out on your own go slowly setting yourself up for success i have tried other methods and gone backwards
i was thinking to drive for someone for a few months just to get going and then move forward with the truck purchase, but thankx for the advice
More than likely your first year insurance costs will be around $13,000.00, that's if you can find a company to insure you. 60k, while a good start, can be gone in two months. Especially for someone who has no experience like you.. Permit time doesn't count and if you don't have a minimum of 3 years experience as a company driver you have no business doing this. Statistically the o/o first year failure rate is around 80%. Statistically the first year failure rate for students out of school is around 75% and I'm talking as a company driver. You do the math, I wish you success but you can't possibly know as a first year driver what took me 18 years to know. No, I'm not an o/o and for good reasons. That's not to say that you can't be successful at it but with no experience I can't see how that's possible. Save your money, get a company gig and learn the business. If you're still in the industry after 3 years then run a business plan and look at this realistically.
How much can you make driving someone else's truck and how much do you THINK you will make if you own your own truck? How will you make the latter a bigger enough number to be worth the added headaches?
Since no one has answered your question, I will. I haven't encountered a shipper or broker who required any sort of experience threshold for drivers. However, about half of them will not work with brand new authorities. After 3 months, more will work with you. After 6 months even more. By 1 year almost all will. Now you can buy an existing carrier from a retiring owner operator and as long as there is no gap in insurance during the transition, that authority will show as being however old it is even though you are just starting out. Frankly I don't believe a savy businessman needs 2 years driving experience, or 1, or even 1 month to make it in this business. As long as you don't run into #### or damage product, nobody that matters cares how you drive. The business end is what causes most to fail -- and that's the same for owning a small trucking company or a pizza place. Your biggest problem will be finding insurance. With no driving experience, you may have to limit yourself to a 500mile radius to even obtain coverage at all. And it will be expensive. But it is possible. Good luck
