Looking to become OO. Am I doing right math?

[AMikonis1980]

With just a brief rundown of your numbers, I see you buying yourself a 30cpm driving job.

Not that it is any of my business, but what do you make as a company driver? (if you don't mind me asking)

34cpm

[AMikonis1980]

My truck had 630,000 miles on it when I bought it for $12,000 cash. 99 International 9200.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the company you want to lease to is charging YOU for cargo insurance, which is normally something THEY would pay, although it doesn't surprise me that companies are trying to pull this on new/inexperienced owner-operators. I would not lease to a company that required me to pay THEIR cargo/liability insurance for their loads.

i gues they do it that way so they could pay 90% of the load.

[heavyhaulerss]

this is a great time to get into trucking IF,IF, you have a lot of money. when the industry is as slow & the worst(unpredictable) as it is now, you have to have financial resources set aside to make it. when the freight is moving at good rates & there is plenty of loads, then you have a better chance of starting out on a shoestring budget & making it. it is all about available work. for the most part. i.m.o. even if freight is not paying top dollar or fuel is a lil high, if you can do 4000 miles a week, you can pay for some of the things you need as you go. as the cost of living has gone up I have to work longer & harder to maintain the same lifestyle. as long as the work is available for me to work the longer hours, I can still keep things going. no or slow freight changes everything. when I used to run 3000 miles a week, buy a set of tires did not bother me. running 600 -900 miles a week is a slow death. you can work for months making just enough to get by, but have nothing to fix anything that goes out. that is why it is important to put aside some money when the times are good.

[AMikonis1980]

anybody else wouldnt mind to share info on these two most important questions for me

The one most important I would like to know is Average pay for 1 mile (loaded + empty). If you would take income of a year or two and divide it by all the miles of your truck of that period of time does it come out around $1.20 a mile?

The maintenance cost was just my guess. Would you be able to share how much do you spend on all of the maintenance of the truck per year including how many miles you drove per year and what is the mileage on your truck.

[Rev.Vassago]

anybody else wouldnt mind to share info on these two most important questions for me

The one most important I would like to know is Average pay for 1 mile (loaded + empty). If you would take income of a year or two and divide it by all the miles of your truck of that period of time does it come out around $1.20 a mile?

That is virtually impossible to answer, as there are far too many variables. Everything from the type of trailer pulled, to the area of the country you run, to who your contacts for loads are. For the one guy who claims $3.00 per mile for all miles driven, there will be another who claims $1.00 per mile. Does that mean the average is $2.00 per mile? Hell no.

IMO, if you have no idea how much your average revenue will be, you have no business getting into business for yourself. If you are relying on what other people earn to determine what you are going to earn, you've failed already. The same holds true for calculating expenses. What the guy parked next to me earns or spends has no bearing whatsoever on my operation.

[rank]

The one most important I would like to know is Average pay for 1 mile (loaded + empty). If you would take income of a year or two and divide it by all the miles of your truck of that period of time does it come out around $1.20 a mile?

I have posted my quarterly numbers here a few times. They wont be of much use to you though. Mine are all brokered loads and drop decks.

The maintenance cost was just my guess. Would you be able to share how much do you spend on all of the maintenance of the truck per year including how many miles you drove per year and what is the mileage on your truck.

$47,000 / 300,000 miles / 3 trucks + 4 trailers. You would be less since you'd driving your own truck. Maintenance costs go way up the minute to start hiring drivers. I think $10,000 would do it...$15,000 the first year. You may not need that much, but you best be prepared.

The first year for a used truck seems to be a killer. Not only do you need to get the truck set up that way you want it, you have to fix all the surprise reasons why the previous owner sold it. Bought a '98 T800 a few years back and dropped $13,000 in two months on a turbo, cylinder head + main and rod bearings. If you don't have that money, it can get ugly.

[Justruckin]

anybody else wouldnt mind to share info on these two most important questions for me

The one most important I would like to know is Average pay for 1 mile (loaded + empty). If you would take income of a year or two and divide it by all the miles of your truck of that period of time does it come out around $1.20 a mile?

The maintenance cost was just my guess. Would you be able to share how much do you spend on all of the maintenance of the truck per year including how many miles you drove per year and what is the mileage on your truck.

With the cost of fuel, when loads were running at $2.50 a mile plus for ALL miles, up to mid 08 in my racket, things were manageable with my own authority. When rates got down to your numbers, $1.20, end of 08 to present, it was a slow lingering death. I had to drop my authority at that point and leased on to an outfit for that $1.20 a mile freight, I kept 85% and had my own plates. There was no way in hell I could make it on that, my last load paid me $79 from NC to Lansing MI after fuel and expenses (ins., food and a shower)

I just sold our last trailer in August. All of my equipment was paid for, 07 Volvo 780 with an APU, avg right around 7 mpg +, along with an 06 Great Dane Conestoga flat and an 03 53' Blanket Wrap trailer, all had clear titles. I walked away clean, but I saw this coming, unlike some of my friends who have pretty much lost everything.

If you are crazy enough to try, good luck. I just could not justify working for free, because that is what it all boiled down to at $1.20 mile. If fuel were around a $1 a gallon and freight was falling from the trees, I would have rode it out. But after 20 years of this cr@p and seeing where this current administration is taking us, along with more rules, regs and taxes that look to be coming our way, I said enough is enough. Like I said, I cut my losses and have not looked back.