What would you do?

Greeting KCTRUCKER,

Which way to turn,

The Facts, You out of work, and have no experences in Driving, Doing the Paper work of a Company Driver, much less a O/O which would be much more..

Your Options;

If I were in your shoes what would I do?


I would probley sell it. I have no experences in driving, and do not know the ropes. I'll sell it and invest in something I do know that I can make more money in.

If you just sell it the money would be gone in a couple of months. Then if you had not found a Job, you'll be in the same boat, but in a worst shape.

If you invest in something you know how to do, have experence in you can make more money and be able to reinvest and make more.

Example, I am currently on Disability. SSDI only covers 90% of monthly Bills. VA Disability covers Rest except Gas and Food. After Bills are paid, I have about 100.00 left after the 5th of the month.. I would invest that 100.00 and with that and what I had invested before, I would have money for Gas, Groceries, and every once in a while go out to eat. I turn 100.00 into 200.00 and 300.00 each month.

Why not learn to drive it and lease on or hire a driver? Lack of experence.... Plus your Wife has already given the biggest reason also, She against it. Family always should come first.

Learn to Drive it and Lease on to a Company;

1. It'll be hard to Lease on a Daycab, can and been done, but hard to.
2. If you did you would be spending alot on motel rooms, for if you sleep in the drivers seat, DOT can and will still violate you on sleeper berth. Done it to Drivers I known.
3. You have no experense in The operation of a Truck, cost of Operating.
4. Your Wife is against it!!!!

Hire A Driver

1. Most will not treat the truck the same as you, adding cost to you.
2. You have No experence so it'll be easy to take advanges of you. You'll have Sucker pasted across your forehead so to speak.
3. Again hard to lease a Daycab to a company. Again can be done, and it's been done but the use of a daycab more for local.
4. Again your wife is against it

IF you did have experence in Trucking it would been different. If you had experence, I'll say pending on your loacation in all the different venues you can go. But all needs experence. Experence so you do not;

1. Get taken advanage of
2. Get heavy duty fined
3. kill or get killed

 

And one more thing that Coastie left out is INSURANCE.

Without some experience it may be difficult for you to obtain insurance. You may be able to get insurance through Progressive if you don't travel more than 300 miles from home. The insurance issue is the first major hurdle to clear, good luck.

I would ignore the possibility of putting another driver in that truck if you are able to do it. Now if you had an opportunity locally to pick up some extra work by having a driver in addition to yourself drive evenings or a couple days a week then go for that.

Personally I would seriously explore the possibility of driving that truck if the local industries are there. It doesn't hurt to explore the possibilities, and if you are currently jobless anyway a little research time won't hurt anything. Make sure you have a clear plan before proceeding, DO NOT rush into anything.

Step one ) Read everything you can on the internet. Absorb all the information you can now. These lessons are free, driving your own truck the lessons tend to cost a bit more.
Step Two) Learn about the costs of operating a truck, there are several other threads in this section discussing those. Play with the numbers and make a list of "expenses" every "miles/days/months/etc"
Step Three) Learn about your local industries and what may be available to you. If you live near a port you may find work moving containers, Rural areas have logs and wood products to be moved, Coal or mining products in some places, the possiblities are endless sometimes and sometimes very slim.
Step Four) Of the industries and companies available to you, try to work up a budget. Talk with drivers and other owner operators doing the same thing and see if one will teach you the ropes IF the numbers make sense. You will find that there are many ways to lose money in trucking so you have to be careful and make wise choices. If the money isn't there then you will just wear yourself and your truck out for nothing. Find out if there is a seasonal slowdown and things like that.
Step five) See if you have enough start up capital and such to actually get off the ground. One days fuel could bust your wallet if you don't have reserves, so leap carefully into this new field.
Step six) Show your plan complete with dollar signs to your wife and pray for approval. That is the deciding factor right there.

Best of luck with your decisions. I won't say that it is impossible, but with the rates I have seen lately there I wouldn't be making the leap to ownership at this time.

Coastie does have a point about experience making or breaking you, but experience does not always have to come from actually doing something, making mistakes, and losing money. Experience can come from other people and there is a load of "experience" on this forum, take advantage of it, and visit other forums as well. I have learned more from the internet that I have in six months of over the road truck driving. All things are possible, just not always profitable.