Thinking of going O/O..help me out
 

I've had enough of working for other people, the corporate nonsense, etc.

I know it will be rough starting out, I'm 24 yrs old, have had a CDL for about 3 years, but only a few months experience ( on paper experience)

I guess you could say I'm a 3rd, maybe even 4th generation truck driver.

Been surfing the Craigslist, finding decent trucks for 10k, some a little more some a little less.

My main concerns are:

1. How do i set up my company, LLC, etc?

2. Insurance, I'm sure it's gonna hurt, but it should go down with time? What insurance companies can i check with?

3. Finding the freight, I have no plans of leasing on with any of the big companies, mainly cause they want you to have years of exp, etc. I can drive, and i don't need some yuppy company to tell me whether or not i have the ability. So the best bet would be load boards,brokers?

Anything any of you O/O's can tell me, I'd greatly appreciate

I'd call a couple of insurance companies who specialize in trucking (lots of ads in truck magazines) and ask them for advice. If you don't have at least a year of driving experience, your rate might be prohibitive. Ask them what they require for you to become insured as independent.

I can tell you there are few or even less than few good $10,000 trucks it could cost $10,000 to get it ready to go.

What about a trailer?

You could do like Mackman, here on the forum did. Get yourself a dump truck and build. But....I do believe Mackman is 27 or 28 and had a couple years driving behind him before he took the leap.

Starting your own company is all well and good. If you have the pocket to do it...more power to you. But if you think that you will make a decent living working off of loadboards, you are mistaken. You would have to be "struck with lightning" lucky to hookup with a Gold Broker right out the gate, that kept you loaded with the best freight.

I went O/O at 26. around 10months ago. Right now i run under my own authority. I dont do OTR im a local bucket driver. I will tell you insurance is going to kill you. Thats if you can even get it. As far as an LLC? Im a sole proprietorship.

I can tell you one thing. If you can swing it i say go for it. There is nothing like owning and running your own truck. I love calling all the shots. lol. I dont think i could ever go back to being a company driver.

Yea im 27. I started driving dumps when i was 18. So i have around 4 years with dumps. Then i drove a wastewater tanker for about 2.5 years. Then have around 2.5 in a tractor trailer. So i did alittle bit of everything. Have a clean record and insurance still killed me.

There are a few local places that lease trailers, so that was going to be my trailer source for now.

I wasn't implying to live off of load boards forever, but for the mean time, it gets me runs and make a little change.

Insurance is gonna be the biggest thing right now.

How much money do you have in the bank? I used to say you needed $100,000 to go trucking but it started too many fights so I don't say that anymore.

Get a good accountant, hire a good lawyer, run your business plan by them and if you still think you can do it go for it. Develop your ability to sell your service(otherwise your just selling a commodity and can expect the same rates that are killing everyone else). I doubt you'll provide much better service than anyone else with a $10000 truck that is prone to breakdowns and expensive repairs. If you aren't discouraged go for it. I'd be happy to take bets that you'll fail. Now your probably pissed off at me for suggesting you might fail, however if you don't try you will never know! You will learn more by failing than not trying.

$10,000 truck, don't laugh, this one was working.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_2134.jpg