To start Owner Operating or not????

Are your finances sound? The taxes and paperwork are burdensome but not a dealbreaker. Running a trucking business means "time off" will likely clash with family time if he has mechanical issues that need his attention. Workloads will increase as will stress. Income could be less than a company driver in most situations or more depending on what his plan is.

 

He will have to ask himself "WHY".
What is it that your planning on doing with your own Authority...?

Typically you see LESS time off, out more and income can in many cases be LOWER than what a company driver is paid.

Some random thoughts come to mind:

-How ARE your finances?
-Can you buy a used rig outright?
-If not, you will deal with a note that MUST be paid even if freight subsides...or the repo man will be paying a visit.
-Do you have a hefty savings (Maintenance Account) of about $10k or more?
If not, how will you handle ONE breakdown w/o going out of business?
-Have you priced insurance? - How many years does he have and what is his driving record?
How is his credit score? (thats a big one now)

Insurance will be important. It can be very spendy for a guy starting out.

...just don't get caught in one of these fleeces out there.
Those are solid downhill spirels of death

-JD

 

Without knowing his circumstances as they are now, no way to answer accurately that I see.
Need to know his experience level, his rough pay, his mechanical abilities (fixing a truck on his own etc), and so on.
We also need a more accurate idea of him "buying a flatbed truck". Is he considering buying just the truck and leasing onto a flatbed company? Buying a truck and trailer and leasing onto a company? Buying a truck and trailer and getting his own authority to get his own loads? You get the idea.
Not as easy to take time off when you have a truck and trailer to pay for while it's sat on the driveway too. The truck will always come first when he gets home. That means that if the truck needs maintenance etc, it will HAVE to be done before the fun stuff starts. As a company driver, he doesn't have to worry about that does he?
To be honest, and please do not take offense to this, if he or you need to ask such basic questions, this probably isn't for you as a family. Too many good families have gone to hell due to the guy/gal buying a truck without knowing the ins and outs of the business.
Best of luck either way.

Martin

 

I agree with the above posts. Time off while you are an o/o is rarely really time off completely, very unlike working for someone else. When you work for someone else your time off is spent doing family fun stuff, as an o/o the time off consists of maintenance and paperwork first then the free time is to unwind, but you never completely get the business out of your mind, you are forever thinking about things that need to be done and the best ways of getting it done. I used to be able to remember things like basketball game dates and times without a calendar, now EVERYTHING my daughters need me to remember MUST be put on my day-planner. All family plans are now contingent on whether I'm gonna have to run a part or tire to my husband whereever he may be, providing that it'd be cheaper for me to do so than have a shop repair. If our children were still small I don't think I would have ever agreed to him buying his own truck and trailer, our youngest was 10 when he bought. We have been fortunate because we have had the support of all our children including the 2 adult children we have, they babysit their sisters when I go on the road with my husband (I recently got my cdl also). Please do consider the strain it will cause in the family dynamics, dad won't be able to be at every birthday party, anniversary, school concert, sporting event or weekend bbq, it doesn't mean he doesn't want to and sometimes the guilt will tear him up, which means you as mom will have to be that much stronger for your children and your husband.
As for the good, he is a much happier person being his own boss, even with the different types of stress he must now deal with (we all must deal with).
Good luck and best wishes.

 

It is possible to manage home time with truck repairs and such, but it depends on the carrier he will be leased to and the type of operation he is considering. I don't have any parts stores nearby open after noon on Saturday, so when I do repairs, it is during the week and I don't truck that day. You could say I "lose" revenue, but I have that time off factored into my business plan, as repair downtime. Every truck and trailer will need it.

Obviously, since you are not a driver, you most likely don't know what we need to give a valid opinion on whether or not it is a good move. If your husband is going to be leased to the same company he's driving for now, it will be fairly easy to see if the money will be right. Take last year and figure out what he would have made as an o/o, then subtract what he made as a compnay driver. This amount is what he'll have to pay for fuel, truck and trailer, truck insurance, maintenance, accounting, additional taxes that were previously paid as a company driver, workers comp or Occupational/Accident insurance, medical insurance, etc. If after all is said and done, there is a decent amount left over, IMO 15-30,000+ depending on the type of operation, it is worth it. A lot of guys jump in, not knowing what the costs will be, and end up making less than being a company driver.

 

That's not the best choice. I used to let others work on my rig until I got smart. Basically money was the convincing part....it adds up so fast it's not funny.

-Have you looked into getting a loan from the bank?
-Do you have a business case/plan to share with the bank?
-Do you have any money towards the down payment and then the necessary maintenance fund?

Please do not even think of using any Home Equity or 401k funds for this venture....

The one question people always want to know is "WHY" does someone want to be an Owner/Operator...I didn't see that question answered.

...just curious, so we can keep trying to provide proper advice..

-JD