[ohio rob]

have been driving for a company for about a year .want to purchase a used tractor of my own to start my own owner /operator bussiness any one have time to give me any pointers? whats next after I purchase truck? any info would be greatly appreciated...

[Jackrabbit379]

If this was 25 years ago, I would have told you to get your own authority, and make that money!
In this day, and age, with the bad economy, I would advise you to stay in the company truck.

Buy a cheap truck and pay it off as soon as possible. Don't over extend yourself and your credit, because you never know where prices of fuel and hauling rates are going to be next week. Make sure you have savings or a cc to cover unexpected expenses. Write a business plan and stick to it. Buy a truck that makes money (aerodynamic trucks vs long hood, detroit vs cat engine, ect.) because every little bit on your mpg helps. Establish a good reputation and keep a list of contacts in the business.

I can tell you how to run on the cheap and be shady but I'll save that info for when I have the time to start a blog on here haha

BOL

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by ohio rob

have been driving for a company for about a year .want to purchase a used tractor of my own to start my own owner /operator bussiness any one have time to give me any pointers? whats next after I purchase truck? any info would be greatly appreciated...

The first thing you need to do is decide which carrier you want to lease on with. I have spoken to several owner operators the last couple of weeks and many are sitting more than usual. I have also spoken to a couple of carriers who seem to be having much more difficulty keeping their trucks moving. Rates are down and so is the available freight. Rates seem to be going down daily. I have been offered as little as $1.50/mile to go to Miami. A couple of days ago I was offered two loads coming out of the same facility both paying $1.50/mile. One had 6 drops and the other had 4. The 4 drop went to Massachusetts. Of course, I didn't take either but someone did. That is part of the reason the rates are so low. Some are running scared. One shipper that I hauled loads for rates from $2.50-3.00/mile are now getting people to haul their freight for $1.50. We are currently in a slower time of year for freight, but things should not have slowed as quickly as we see them right now.

If you have plenty of cash and decent credit it could be a good time to purchase a truck. There are some good buys right now. If you have little cash, marginal or poor credit then this is not a good time to purchase a truck or make any major changes. Over 20,000 carriers went out of business during the first 2 quarters of this year. 86,000+ owner operators lost their trucks the first 2 quarters of this year. Both those figures are much higher today than they were only a few months ago. According to some with whom I have spoken this figure could be in excess of 200,000.

If you decide that you want to go ahead and buy a truck you need to start talking to carriers and see what they have to offer. There is no need to buy a truck unless you can lease it on to a carrier unless you plan on getting your authority. Most carriers pay mileage or percentage. You need to decide which is best for you.

[rank]

You need about $165,000 in start up capital. Give or take.

Used truck: $50,000
New drop trailer (i.e. RGN or a 53' step deck...more on this later):$50,000
Plates: $2,500
Insurance: $13,000
Maintenance for year 1: $13,000
Seed money until money starts coming in : $35,000

TOTAL: $163,000

Let's say your business plan call calls for the $100,000 in equipment to be paid off in 5 years.

$50,000 (truck cost) - $10,000 (anticipated resale at 5 years) = $40,000 (truck amount to be amortized)
$50,000 (trailer cost) - $30,000 (anticipated resale at 5 years) = $20,000 (trailer amount to be amortized)
Total amortization per year = ($40,000 + $20,000)/5 years = $12,000/year.

Estimated costs per mile at 100,000 miles per year.

Amortization (see above): 12,000/100,000 = $.12
Fuel ($3.80/gallon & 5 mpg) = $.76
Maintenance: $13,000/100,000 = $.13
Plates: $2,500/100,000 = $.025
Insurance: $13,000/100,000 = $.13

Total of The Big Expenses = .12+.76+.13+.025+.13 = $1.17/mile

Now, if I haven't already started an argument by posting the above, there will certainly be those that take issue with the following. You need to pay yourself a wage to drive the truck. I suggest at least $.40/mile + benefits + WSIB, EI etc, etc.

One reason I believe you should model your business plan around paying a driver is because it allows you to step out of the truck should you ever need to.

Now your planned cost is $1.57+...........see why you need a specialized trailer?

Of course fuel is only costing about $.50/mile these days instead of the .$76 that you've budgeted for. So much the better.

You could probably find a cheaper truck. You might be able to find a cheaper trailer. We just bought a 1995 Kaylyn Siebert RGN for $10,000......but I've been looking for over a year so they don't grow on trees. And you may as well push a rope as look for a used 53' combo step.

I think you can probably average close to $1.90/mile for all miles. That leaves you with a business profit of $33,000 in addition to your driver wage.

As for being an o/o....I don't know anything about that. Seems like you're taking all the risk and leaving yourself at their mercy. But what do I know.

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by ohio rob

have been driving for a company for about a year .want to purchase a used tractor of my own to start my own owner /operator bussiness any one have time to give me any pointers? whats next after I purchase truck? any info would be greatly appreciated...

You don't need to spend $100,000 on equipment to get started as an owner operator. You can find a good truck for less than $20,000. There is no reason to pay more than $25,000, especially with today's business climate. You can find a decent flat bed for around $10,000 or perhaps less. A friend of mine recently purchased a good insulated van for about $4,500, if I remember correctly. He spend a little more putting new tires all around. The more experience you have and bigger down payment the easier it will be to get financed. I assume that you plan on leasing to a carrier. If so, you may be able to pull one of their trailers. If you want to use pull a flat some carriers will rent one to you for about $165/week. The major obstacle will be your back up fund. You need to have some money set aside to make any major repairs that may come along. That is how so many go out of business. They manage to get the truck and then lose it all when they have a major breakdown and don't have the resources to repair their equipment. You might get lucky. Some do. The problem is that some will have a major breakdown and lose their truck and ruin their credit. It is always good to have a backup plan.

[Malaki86]

I'm tracking the income/expenses on this company truck to decide which way to go. We run percentage, so not every load is a winner. Out of the 6 loads I've completed this week, 3 caused the truck to lose money (almost as much as it made). The other three it came out ahead, just not by much.

I've got a spreadsheet setup with everything I can think of. Anyone care to take a look at it? It's an Excel 2007, but I can save it to different Excel versions.

Edit: I've attached the spreadsheet - it's in Excel '97-2003 format. Let me know your thoughts on it.

[rank]

Originally Posted by GMAN

You don't need to spend $100,000 on equipment to get started as an owner operator. You can find a good truck for less than $20,000. There is no reason to pay more than $25,000, especially with today's business climate.

I know you don't need to spend $50K on a truck, but how many miles is that $20,000 - $25,000 truck going to have on it?

You can find a decent flat bed for around $10,000 or perhaps less. A friend of mine recently purchased a good insulated van for about $4,500.

Sure you can. And you can join the million other flatbedders or 10 million ofther van haulers and try to survive by rate cutting. Fact of the matter is a small guy needs to specialize and that means a "special" trailer and they don't grow on trees.

A 53' trailer is the only real choice becasue it means there are some loads that you can take that the 48' can't, specifically LTL, but you can also haul 60' long loads without permits. I don't think I've ever seen a used 53' combo step for less than $25,000. They're ~ $35,000 new.

Two years ago we found a 1999 Lode King 48' combo step for $10,000, but it's only a 48" and it took forver to find it.

As for an RGN, as I mentioned earlier, we recently found a 1995 Kalyn Siebert 48' x 96' mechanical for $10,000 but it took forever to find that deal too. And it's only a 96" (although that has it's advatages).

Tralers don't depreciate. That's why Landstar owns trailers but not trucks.

[heavyhaulerss]

Tralers don't depreciate. That's why Landstar owns trailers but not trucks.


trailers do depreciate. if someone had $ 165,000 cash. I would offer other investment idea's other than trucking for their money. I guess the only one's to say you can get a inexpensive truck & trailer are the one's who have done it & succeeded with it. I think the theory of ya get what ya pay for is inbedded in folks minds when looking at truck prices. this does not always apply to trucks.

rates are gettting cut drastically right now, one reason is, fuel prices have come down & people are racing to see who can cut the lowest to get the freight. my dispatch told me today she had a load out of birmingham al to laraedo tx paying a flat rate of $950.00 no fuel & 1 drop.

i just lost my dedicated run buy a local flatbed co, who came in & cut the rates. i still get the same loads so far, but the other co, now gets all available loads first. i get one if there is any left. one of us o/o's signed up with the rate cutter to keep the run. i cannot sign on to a co, that just knocked me out of a job & cut my pay. it's going to get worse before it gets better.

[rank]

Originally Posted by heavyhaulerss

trailers do depreciate.

Not like trucks do. Not even close.

..if someone had $ 165,000 cash. I would offer other investment idea's other than trucking for their money.

And what praytell, might that be? If we were having this conversation 6 months ago, everybody would have said the stock market. Look how that turned out.

[quote]I guess the only one's to say you can get a inexpensive truck & trailer are the one's who have done it & succeeded with it. I think the theory of ya get what ya pay for is inbedded in folks minds when looking at truck prices. this does not always apply to trucks.[/[quote]
Have you bought a $20,000 truck? If so, what kind of luck did you have? We have. $18,000 and we put $13,000 into it in the first couple of months. What would happen to most new truckers if they had to deal with that?

I never said you couldn't get a cheaper truck than $50,000, BTW.

rates are gettting cut drastically right now, one reason is, fuel prices have come down & people are racing to see who can cut the lowest to get the freight.

rates will always be getting cut. Anybody that can't deal with it had best stay away.

my dispatch told me today she had a load out of birmingham al to laraedo tx paying a flat rate of $950.00 no fuel & 1 drop.

what type of trailer?

I guess it's the same 'ol catch 22. Everybody says don't take cheap freight, but they encourage every under capitalized tom dick and hairy with $30,000 to buy worth of stuff and go trucking.

I still say it takes $150 large or you're likely the next statistic.