Re: What is the break even point for an owner operator?
 

Road use taxes are $0.7/mile? For break even purposes if you are not making anything you should not be paying anything in income taxes.
I have no idea if $0.13 if valid for maintenance, but I have nothing else so I can go with it.
Other is pretty high at $0.25/mile. What are you including in that figure?

Adding $1.04, $0.13, $0.07, and $0.25 I get $1.49.
$1.825-$1.49 = $0.335

Where did you get the other $0.335 from?

I don't think you know which is why you don't post answers. I don't think I have read a post of yours which has been helpful...

You spend time and money finding good brokers or qualified shippers.

You run credit checks on both. You do so as often as once every three months. You learn the business, not by whining or bullying, but by taking hints, by asking pertinent questions, and giving valid and pertinent answers when you are asked a question.

3 months of new operation and hasn't been DOT'ed? Just exactly which scales has he been crossing?

Re: What is the break even point for an owner operator?
 

EXACTLY. If someone is in business only to break even, it is a lesson in futility, and running all the numbers in the world is irrelevant. The idea is to figure out what it takes to earn a profit after all expenses. It costs me between $7000 - $8000 a month to operate, not counting fuel. That includes everything that I receive a bill for.

Someone who goes in with the mindset of "they could own a separate business or they are married to someone who can pay the personal expenses" is setting themselves up for hauling cheap. If they can manipulate the figures to make it seem that they only need $1.04 per mile to operate, then that is where they are setting the bar. Personally, my bar is set at about $1.65 per mile, and I hope I never get that low, because I'm not in business to just pay my home bills and truck bills. I'm in business to earn a profit.

This is due to your lack of comprehension skills... What do you do for a living other than playing trucking mogul ????

Re: What is the break even point for an owner operator?
 

Yes they are! Why else would you run a truck???For the fun of it???

You really need to stop listening to "that guy you know who makes $2 per mile running flatbed".

There have been very good responses from some smart and profitable business people here, and charged is still clueless.....

Re: What is the break even point for an owner operator?
 

When you take advice from a hobby trucker, you get just that. Hobby advice.

Re: What is the break even point for an owner operator?
 

The difference between making a profit and breaking even is $.01.

The question was asked not because I want to buy a truck and run w/o making a profit but because I want to know what one would make if his average pay was $1.70/mi.

$1.70 minus the break even would be a good approximation of how much a trucker with the given costs could make.