Wanting to be a Owner Operator after CDL School

You have to have enough money to buy 100k mile truck in full.

 

Wow, I would be shocked to drive that just getting into trucking!
BTW, I have a TWIC card if that would help me?

 

CMI requires TWIC because they haul government loads.

 

Thats awesome! If you dont mind me asking, what did you have to put out for repairs/tows during those first 2 years? Or did the truck run pretty good for you? What were you hauling? Dry van?

 

Rambling man, did you end up deciding to get your CDL?

 

Yes I did, but I am still in school after a long Covid shutdown. I should graduate the end of July.

 

1. I hope you went for it. I did it. I got my CDL and was driving 21 days later. I had started the process with DOT number, logistical-business stuff while I was still in CDL school.
2. I recommend anyone wanting to do it give it a go, but here is the catch. It's the separator that most young guys and gals don't have, simply because they haven't had enough time and that is.....money.
3. Here is the advantage I had. I was age 42. I had 180,000 dollars in the bank. What did I do? I bought a brand new truck. So, right off of the back, I took truck payments OUT OF THE EQUATION. I also CONTROLLED Maintainence because with a new truck, you have the opportunity to buy top of the line warranties and maintence plans that basically limit your maintence costs dramatically for the first 500,000 miles of the truck.
4. The business side of the equation regarding taxes, C Corp, pass through taxes with states like Kentucky, etc. All of this can be learned in 24 hours. You can set down with a phone at a computer, and learn the business side of trucking over a 3 day period putting in 8 hours of work over 3 days of studying and learning. It's NOT that complicated like many make it out to be.
5. The BIGGEST CHALLENGE I HAD BY FAR was........the truck. It's a monumental advantage when someone has driven a truck for 2 years because as an O/O, the key is learning how to be a mechanic, or at least something close to it. I had to study weekly, as in...putting in about 6 hours per week for the first year of having the truck on intricate details on how to fix things. Folks with this experience save money and down time.
6. Backing. Driving will come. It's not that tough. Backing is a whole other ballgame. I am/was OTR so I didn't get a ton of experience backing, and this was very tricky at first. So what did I do? I practiced straight backing for a quarter of a mile regularily to get it down.
7. It can be done, but man oh man, here is the biggest mistake made. You only have 50 grand to put on a truck, so that means you are getting a truck that from the very minute, will have problems, and you don't have enough experience to know how to fix those problems. Your truck is in the shop for long periods, and your insurance and payment are still do. This is how you go out of business.
8. I can promise you this. If you have the ability, if you are fortunate enough to have the money to by a brand new truck, do it. It gives you a huge advantage not just by not having a truck payment, but the biggest advantage is your down time and maintainence will be less and it gives you that 1 year time to study the mechanices of the truck before stuff starts breaking.
9. Here is the single biggest mistake new owner operators make in my opinion, and it's often because they simply don't have the ability to do it, and that is.....purchase a new truck ALWAYS. Even if financed, finance a new truck. When you buy a new truck, you can purchase top of the line warranties and maintainence plans that will save you THOUSANDS of dollars over the long haul. You have the ability to have so much stuff covered and it limits your down time, and you want to limit your downtime more than ever, in the first year of driving, especially if you have financed a truck.