[lucky2]

Thanks for the info. Yea I quess you cant get paid for unloaded miles when your an O/O. What was I thinking... ops:

[lucky2]

Another question is how much should be put away for maintenance/tires a month for the truck? My husband can do the oil changes himself so that will help. I thought I heard once to save out 5 C/P/M for maintenance. Does that sound about right?

[BanditsCousin]

Plan on around $500/mo on maintenance. Maybe more if you are running taller miles. If you did it at 10cpm, you'd have plenty of extra after a while to cover regular maintenance and unexpected breakdowns. A new tire is $400-$500 for just one. My oil changes at Speedco run me $250. Clutch adjustments, wear and tear on pigtails, torn mudlfaps, etc all add up.

Carrying some things like the mudflap, air line, alternator, etc can help you minimize buying from a truckstop at an inflated rate. On a similar note, they can save you from being shut down and/or DOT fines from faulty equipment.

More or less, you're going to need $1.20/mi to the truck to stay afloat. You'll need $1.21 and up to start making a profit. This includes your FSC and linehaul portion payable to the truck. These numbers are pretty generic but can serve as a base model for you, and can be scrutinized.

A team should be doing at least 18,000 miles a month, or 4500 miles per week. You can base your expenses on the weekly or monthly mileage projections. More miles does mean more money, but also the maintenance and wear and tear that goes with it.

[lucky2]

Have one more question. How much does fuel tax run? Is it paid quarterly and to whom do you pay it too. Also do we pay the heavy road tax or does the company pay that. Just trying not to leave anything out of the exspenses. So far I have bobtail or unladen insurance, occupational accident ins.,base plate,fuel,maintenance/tires,fuel tax?, and food listed.Anything else I,m forgetting?

[Red Clay Rambler]

You will pay the heavy road tax. Some companies will file and pay the fuel tax for you, some will just file it for you but you pay it. Also figure a little for accounting fees/tax prep, cell phone, office supplies, truck supplies, etc.

[BanditsCousin]

I believe the 2290 (Heavy vehicle raod use tax) is about $600 annually. The fuel tax rates are in the Rand McNally road carrier atlas I think, or you can easily find them online. They are based on a state by state basis.

[NotSteve]

I think the 2290 is $550. I've been running for about a year and a half and my IFTA has ranged from $.60 cents to $220.00 per quarter. It depends on where you run and where you buy fuel.

[Copperhead]

All of this info is pretty good. I would throw in that having a good laptop computer with office software would make keeping track of numbers and avoid getting "broadsided" financially would be a wise investment.

You don't have to "break the bank" to do this. There are a LOT of decent new laptops that can be had for a reasonable price. Check out the offerings at Wally World. Also the best software for the price is:

www.openoffice.org

A software suite that rivals Microsoft Office, and best of all, it's totally FREE!!! Set up some simple spreadsheets and keep track of things. As you go along, you can tweak the spreadsheets and make them more complicated as you need them. When you get really into it, you can set them up as "relational" like I have them, so that when I add or change a value in one sheet, it is reflected on the another. I have one sheet for fuel data, one for expenses, and one for trip information. They all "send" their data to a "recap" sheet that then calculates cost per mile, revenue per mile, gross expenses and income and net income. Sure helps me keep track of things and the numbers are available at a glance.

Boy.... I am starting to feel like one of those office "dweebs" :shock:

[lucky2]

Are the heavy road/tax and fuel tax the same thing? From what I understand that has to be paid by the quarter year and cost somewhere in the range of $500 a year for that. Is this correct?

[NotSteve]

The 2290 heavy road tax is about $550 per year and is paid around June. Most states are now requiring you to prove that you paid it each year before renewing your plates.

The IFTA is a quarterly thing and is a huge pain in the AZZ. Thank God for Tequila.

As far as laptops are concerned I would buy a Dell and the cheapest one for around $500. Unless your in to gameing there is no need for a killer laptop.