What's the average you make off of one truck weekly as a fleet owner?

Ok Mr. Falcone. Want to be a player? What you want to haul? Livestock, Frisbee's? We need huge numbers of 411 before we can even help you. Got 15,000 if a truck blows a gearbox? Has Sea Food on the trailer, it has to move. Good luck Sir.

 

You can't expect to make anything. It's kind of like saying you bought a guitar, how much can you expect to be paid per gig in two years ? Or you just bought a pizza oven, how much you gonna make per pie ?

 

Sounds easy but in reality not so much. Friends come from years of experience. If I understand you correctly, you are a driver now. My advice is to continue driving and pull different commodities so you can learn the ropes. When you have chosen your niche, then get your own authority. If you still want to be a fleet owner you will be more knowledable and have more contacts and something might fall in your lap like a dedicated run if you buy another truck.

BTW, you need alot of money. We're talking $100,000 has to come from somewhere, othewise you run the risk of becoming another casualty. Oh, in an earlier post you mentioned that carriers fail because of poor work ethic. I'd say most fail because they are under capitalized.

 

Aaaah, the smell of popcorn and fresh vitreol in the morning.

And yet still I learn . . .

 

You need to learn more about asking the right questions and to know the terms to use. Gross ... Net ... Quarter ... And other terms you need to start using while at the same time not plan on what the profit will be weekly because it is impossible to forecast.

 

Okay, here's the deal. I've been a heavy haul owner operator for over twenty years. I see these kinds of questions over and over again. Typically, they come from company drivers that have less than 2 years of experience. I'm sure from a company drivers point of view, being an owner operator seems very glorified and has potential to make more money then they currently are. You also have the mega fleets that cater to this need and put you in your so called "own truck" that is financed through the company. Us old timers call this a "Fleece Operator" not an Owner operator. Essentially, the company has a better bottom line when they "lease" you a truck and call you an owner operator but that's a whole other discussion...LOL!
Anyway, if you have studied the corporate side of the trucking industry then you have about 1/3rd of the knowledge needed to succeed. There are way too many variables as mentioned by some other posts that you need to have covered. Everything from what type of freight to haul, what equipment to buy, working capital, billing and/or factoring company, lease to an established fleet or run your own authority.......plus many many more. Of course the main two factors to consider is truck purchases and fuel. Do you have good credit? If so, that doesn't mean diddly squat these days in truck financing! I have a friend's son who just started out being an owner operator, has a credit score of 750 with very little debt at all. He had to put $15k down on a 2009 truck as well as prove that he had a place for the truck to work AND had his father co-sign who was an established owner operator of over 30 years. Times are tough!! Do you have working capital set aside? This includes fuel money, driver pay, break downs and ROI. Whats ROI you ask? Return on investment...but I'm sure you knew about that after studying the corporate end of the trucking industry.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discourage you I'm simply stating that there is more to this industry than just buying a truck, putting it to work and making money. You need more seat time, more knowledge of the industry and to find what niche you want to be in. I truly do not see how all the van,reefers, flats, steps etc... are making it these days off of the rates that they tell me they are getting but hey, that's not my niche, heavy haul is and that's the part of trucking I know about. In general, it's all the same but different pay, different freight and different mentality of drivers.
So, do some more homework, gain some more seat time and keep asking questions. Also, remember that everyone you talk to will have a different "bottom line". This is due to their individual debt load, truck payments, responsibilities and so on. Here's a good place for some info on figuring cost per mile from the OOIDA http://www.ooida.com/EducationTools/Tools/costpermile.asp After reading that, scroll to the bottom of the page to download the forms.

Good luck in your endeavor!