What is a fair deal?

Hand, you’re going to HAVE TO be more specific. There is no one size fits all.

1. What kind of freight?
2. Locations of shippers and receivers.
3. Pick company according to 1 and 2.
4. Pick the truck according to 1, 2 and 3, spec it accordingly.
THEN, ask your questions.

 

This pretty much sums it up. Without more details we can not give you good advice. As an example i work doing end dump and my truck is NEVER under 80k and i spend a rather alarming amount of time in the mountains and on roads where the term goat trail would be overstateing things. But i also go all over the country and 1500+ mile loads are not unusual

This means for me a truck speced with more torque and a higher gear ratio as well as reinforced frame and axles regardless of weight, but also with large fuel tanks and good economy is going to be pretty valuable. i would look at a rig speced accordingly and be willing to pay quite a bit for it and find it a good deal.

For someone who runs dry vans in nebraska doing short 100 mile loads however, a rig like what i need would be extremely poorly suited for their line of work. Thus they would look at the same truck and be willing to pay far far less for it and would think i am bonkers for paying that much. Meanwhile the rig with a little 13 or even 11 liter 350 horse engine and 2.8 something gear ratio that could get 9+ mpg and with tiny fuel tanks and no sleeper to save on weight would be perfect for them, while i wouldnt touch it with a 10 foot pole.

TLDR diffrent markets and use cases make for diffrent "good deals"

 

there is no fair deal, but if ya gonna do it, make sure you can walk away, get self dispatching and percentage pay. Don't listen to these other trolls just do that and you be a billionaire in no time

 

How many years have you been driving ?
What kind of trucks ?
What kind of cargo?

 

Man I could spend hours or all day talking to you. Still wouldn't get out all I have learned over the years. That companies, other drivers, accountants, mechanics, didn't tell me
But if you tell us more specifically what,
( I assume you mean pay) your doing. Refer, van, flat, household, dump, Otr, local etc.. Pergaps just maybe someone can help you.

 

Don't do it. You will regret

 

There can be all kinds of problems when you lease on somewhere. With that being said there are good places to lease on to I'm sure but there's a lot of ripping people off that goes on.

First is the escrow account. They're going to take money out of your pay every week until they have $3,500 or whatever it is and then when you want to get out of there they have your money and depending on whether they're reasonable or unreasonable they very well may find or make up a reason to keep it.

Never let them purchase your tags or put your truck in their name or anything else that will stop you from getting out of there rapidly if you find out that they are ripping you off.

Many companies that you lease on to will make it sound great and then when you sign up you find out you have all of these fees every week. Some places really rob you on the fees.

The next thing is that no owner operator should work somewhere that you can't pick your own Freight. It is all but guaranteed that if you have someone telling you where to go there's some brown noser somewhere there that where he's going to go is going to be way better than where you go, and you may find that he gets away with doing different things at places that you don't.

As far as I understand if you ask them they are supposed to produce for you the original bills for the load that you're pulling so that you see that you're getting paid accurately. Even though I believe there is a law about that, probably not going to happen.

I know a guy that just like the luck of the devil, he came across a connection at the port that gave him all the freight he could ever want. I'm sure he's got to have at least 50 trucks leased on to him by now and he steals off of every one of them. If that guy steals $100 a day off of each truck he made more than most people make doing something legitimate. And that's before he gets paid for what he's supposed to get paid for.

He has told me it's the greatest business he's ever been in because the other businesses that he ripped people off he got sued and people came after him, but with the trucks he says it's just a license to steal.

Being independent isn't a picnic, but you don't have any of that nonsense to deal with.