Hello,

I'm a French truck driver, and I want get more informations about US road transportation.

Someone can explain to me what meaning the following expressions.

Bobtail insurance = insurance Ok, but bobtail ?

Payroll taxes for employee driver.

Due and subscriptions.

Workman's Compensation.

I understand the words, but not the meaning.

Many thanks for the answer.

 

"Bobtail insurance" is a slang term. What it really is is unladen liability insurance. It is insurance that covers the truck when it isn't under a load (or under dispatch)

Payroll taxes are Social Security, Medicare, and FICA taxes. They are taken out of an employee's paycheck by the employer, and paid to the government.

These are broad terms that can cover any number of things. Anything from a subscription to a business related trade magazine to dues paid to a business related organization like OOIDA.

Insurance that covers an employee if he or she is injured on the job.

 

Welcome, I will try to answer a few questions.

"Bobtail" is a slang word used to describe a truck (road tractor) without a trailer attached. So, bobtail insurance is the insurance that an owner-operator carries to insure his truck when he is NOT under dispatch from the company that he is leased to. For example, if you were driving your truck-tractor to a repair shop on a weekend and you were involved in an accident.

Payroll is a term that describes money paid to an employee. If a driver is a true company employee and does not own his own truck, the company withholds the income taxes that are paid to the government. If a driver owns his own truck and is an independent contractor, the driver-owner himself has to set aside money for his own income taxes and send them in to the government several times each year.


Not sure what the phrase "due subscription" means in relation to trucking, could you clarify or give us a complete sentence using the terms?

Workmen's Compensation is a type of insurance that employers are required to carry for their employees in case the employee is injured while working.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks a lot to Red Clay Rambler and Rev.vassago.

 

About your fuel tax, how cost a travel New York - Los Angeles ? or Chicago - Miami ? Somebody have the answers ?

 

It depends on your routing. To get an accurate rate you will need to know how many miles you travel in each state and then use the tax rate for the respective states to get the actual fuel tax costs.

 

tax rates are available at:

http://www.etrucker.com/apps/promiles/fuelprices.asp

Also there is a federal tax rate, I think it's 22 cents per gallon.

 

New York to Los Angeles: Assuming I am routing it the fastest way possible, and am averaging 6 miles per gallon, I will pay approximately $118.62 in highway use tax.

Chicago to Miami: Assuming again that I am routing it the fastest way possible, and am averaging 6 miles per gallon, I will pay approximately $55.59 in highway use tax.

The highway use tax is paid at the pump in the form of the fuel tax. If you don't pay enough fuel tax at the pump, then you are required to pay the extra tax 4 times per year. If you pay too much tax to one state, it sometimes can be used to pay the tax for another state (some states do not do this, however. Most smart truck drivers don't fuel in those states as a result).

 

I thanks Gman, Allan5oh and Rev.vassago for their answers. I hope you have a informatic system to calculate the taxe.
In France, you paid the tax when you bought fuel, after you must send the bill to the goverment, and the goverment pay back the VAT, because all professional truckers don't pay VAT on fuel. But you must paid the highway toll and it's very expensive, for example : Start Paris to go to Marseille = 780 kms (485 miles)= 159.50 € ( 255 $) = 0.526 $ per miles.

 

Those numbers I quoted do not include tolls. There are several tolls on both trips also.