Want to buy my own truck

Just my .02 here. 1. Go to the Truck Paper. Go to the state you live in and click on the dealer's. 2. Check out all the dealers. Most will have some excellent pictures of their inventory. 3. Pick out the trucks you feel are suitable for you. Go drive'em,even bobtail. Ask for a history of the truck.Most dealers will have something. I had the Pete dealer run the serial number on the truck I bought. Any major repair etc will be there these days. 4. Ask for an oil sample and a dyno report. 5. If the truck belonged to an O/O call them. I did. Takes a lot of research in my opinion. I spent two weeks just looking thru the Truck Paper for my area. Even doing all this is no guarantee you won't have some issues, but at least you have a fair idea of the history of the truck. I also suggest if possible you stay away from fleet trucks. I just never had much luck with one. I tried to buy from dealers who had O/O trucks or smaller companies. As for the rest of it I leased to a O/O used his Authority and Liability insurance and paid my own Cargo, Bobtail,Physical Damage and plates. I finally got enough $ to get my own liability and cargo and simply used his Authority for which I paid him 5%. It worked for me. I am not saying it's for everyone or someone else should do it. It gave me the independence I wanted and he didn't care where I went or what I did. I did my own invoicing etc and paid him 5% weekly. In trucking there's a lot of ways to "skin a cat just remember to use the way that works for you". By the way I had a contract with the O/O that spelled out our agreement. It's not for everyone but it worked for me and he made a little $ to. I hate seeing guys go to these mega companies and get ripped off. Granted I had my own truck and trailer and a O/O who was willing to work with me. He kept his word and I kept mine. I'm retired now due to some health issues but I will guarantee you I could call him and go back to working today if I was so inclined. By the way 1,000,000 Liability, 100,000 cargo, bobtail and physical damage to truck and trailer was $5,901.60 per year. Paid the first three months and every three months after that. I did as much research on insurance companies as I did trucks. Talked to other O/O and found some really good truck insurance companies out there. No mega ones, just good companies.JMO

 

You need to locate Medicine Man on this forum and talk to him about this. He's very mechanicly inclined helpful with big trucks and can tell you some things to investigate.

 

Thanks, I'll look him up.

 

As for plates, a company will fax you a temp plate or "temporary letter of authority" depending on where they are from, to get you there.

You can also get away with driving a truck with no plates as long as it has a name on the side and an ifta sticker. That's because some states dont give paper plates for semis, they just give a temporary letter of authority, and that is not displayed on the vehicle. I drove a truck for 500 miles with prepass not activated with no plate. I went through several open scales, and the DOT man didnt say a word!

 

Yes, buying the truck will definitely be the easy part of getting started. There is so much more involved as I am sure you are finding out as you do more research. As mentioned earlier insurance will be a big part of the start-up costs. You have several options in this area and it is best to work with a licensed rep that specializes in commercial trucking insurance.