Thinking about diving in to O/O

gravdigr, I've read many of your posts and you strike me as a pretty smart guy, and certainly among the contenders for being a successful o/o.

Why in the world would you consider a lease purchase deal? You're assuming all the risk and CRST is getting all the potential upside. On a good month you will have to struggle to hit that $3,000/mo note on the equipment, plus fuel and everything else. Anything goes wrong (shop downtime, slow freight, etc) and you're gonna hurt bad.

At the very least, get your own equipment and lease on to someone that will meet you halfway if you're coming with business already lined up. Even better, get your authority and take all the upside.

And running around PA, don't forget to put away a few $$$$ for your EZpass fund.

 

Mr Digr if you think youve got what it takes and enough money to get going then go for it! Id rather risk losing it all as an owner operator than run for a mega carrier for 25cpm.

Good luck to you.

 

If you want to gross $80,000 a year even if you were lucky to pay yourself $.50 a mile you still need to run 160,000 miles a year. 160,000/52=3076 miles a week. And that being said I would start somewhere as a company flatbed driver before jumping in as an owner operator.

 

Look into Nic Strimbu, or Yourga Trucking.

 

Not trying to be a d*@khead but if you do not have the creidt to buy a truck, then being an O/O is not for you. You will need credit to get repairs done, maintain things when weeks are bad, and honestly you should not even look into becoming an o/O without at least $10,000 in a savings account so you won't lose it all when the clutch goes, or you have a week w/o work.

Save up at least $10k in savings and another $10k for a downpayment and then you MIGHT be able to survive. because relying on ANY company to help you with repairs, and costs is just a recipie for bankruptcy.

Just my .02

 

My EZPASS cost me $50. $10 for the transponder and they put the other $40 as a credit on your unit to use. It will replenish at $10 balance and can be replenished between $40-????? at each time. But remember that just running from OH line to Breezewood costs about $55 each way and the company does not reimburse for that so it comes out of your load revenue. Living where you do, and running PA a lot, you can look to spend about $500 a month on tolls if you don't find other routes.

 

I did just that when I got started.

I had (still have) 700+ credit rating. $20k cash plus a couple of plastic cards. After paying for truck downpayment, a well-used trailer, and tie down gears (the cost of which a lot of people neglect), I was like a 400-lb guy skating on an 1/8-inch thick ice. When I got my first load, I had less than $1,000 left in my bank account and one plastic card left that I could fall back on.

I think $20k would have been a comfortable start-up capital if I started out as a van O/O pulling someone else's wagon. But for going straight into flatbed owner-operatorhood pulling my own trailer, I was pushing my luck beyond my comfort zone. Fortunately, I survived.

Don't mean to discourage Mr. Digger. Just sharing my own experience.

I second the notion to avoid lease purchase. If you absolutely have to, I'd go to a place like Lone Mountain instead of L/P'ing from the carrier you're leased to.

 

You cannot get a Prepass Plus like the big mega carriers do. I have tried and they told me that they were only for 50+ truck fleets. You will have to get the ezpass and prepass seperatly but it's no big deal. prepass is $13.95 a month and I HIGHLY suggest it especially if you are hauling steel around AL, TN, NY, ect ect.....