I am new to the forum and I like what I am reading. Lots of good info. I would like to get some advise from expereinced O/O on my new career path.

Quick background: I've been in aviation since the early 90's and have had over ten jobs. Most of my jobs ended by being layed off or the airplanes/company sold. :cry: Absolutely no desire to fly at the airlines again. I am tired of being a pawn in someone else's game. :evil: On any given day, an owner/supervisor can put my name on a piece of paper and my family is screwed. My job will end (again) by the end of the year or so. By the way, we live in Arizona.

I received my CDL last year (april/may) to see if I liked driving the truck. I loved it!! (hazmat/tandems endorsment also) For years, my wife and I have considered going into the trucking industry, but had other business interests that stopped us. We have always owned all, or a part of, a business of some type. Some very successful, others were, well, let's just call them learning experiences. :shock: My wife and kids are completely on board with this. My wife works out of the house and makes good money, w/ benifits. So that will help.

Goal: I want to gain some experience and eventually operate my own business/truck. Hopefully, I will gain that experience in 12 months or so (flatbed and van/refer). That is, atleast two winters, some heavy traffic, and mountain driving. I would like to buy a tractor that I can either lease with a company or operate on my own. I would like to have atleast some control of my schedule and income. :roll: I have some money to invest into this new venture, but I will not consider a lease-to-own that alot of comapanies offer!! :!:

Questions:
1. Other than being crazy for considering this, what companies would be good/bad for gaining experience (van & flatbed)?

2. Once the experience level is obtained, is it best to pay cash for a used rig or lease/finance one?

3. Once I have a truck, should I lease on with a large company or operate completely Independent?

4. To gain the experience, should I find an O/O to use as an instructor/mentor are just go with a big company?

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum, NMCC. You will find this industry to be a very diverse group. There are some on this board who are from the aviation business. There are a number of good carriers with whom you can lease. Schneider, Swift, CRST, Roehl, Millis are but a few who have training programs. You can do a search for the good, bad and ugly on each of them. I would recommend that if you plan on attending school that you pay for it yourself. Many community colleges and state vocational schools have driving schools. I would recommend that you get at least 2 years of driving experience before buying a truck. There are some who have done well without much experience. There is a lot to learn about the idiosyncrasies of this business. I think it is also good for someone just coming into the industry to lease to a carrier for a while prior to getting your own authority. It isn't that having your authority is that difficult, but having some experience behind you can really make things easier. Getting insurance is difficult and expensive without at least 2 years experience. I am talking about liability and cargo insurance. That is what is needed to get your authority. It becomes much less of a problem and considerably less costly with experience.

I like the idea of paying cash for your equipment providing that is an option. If that isn't an option, then buying is usually preferable to leasing, whether from the carrier or an independent source. I paid cash for my first truck and trailer. It is a great feeling to not need to worry about making truck payments. You don't really own it until the last payment is made. If you decide to finance your purchase, it is much easier when you have experience. One of the criteria lenders like to see is driving experience. They also like to see a decent credit score, but driving can sway the decision in your favor.

It is much easier and less costly to learn from someone else than from your own mistakes. Good luck.

Greetings NMCC,
Welcome to CAD, and do what I did here,.....read,read,read, almost all of your answers can be found here.

welcome to the forum, I have learned more here about the trucking business than any other forum I have found. most of your ?? have been asked before and if you haven't yet I would recommend reading through all of the O/O forums pages, especially steve booths thread (from desk to own authority). good luck in your pursuit I wish you the best.

Thanks for the replys! Yea, I did find alot of answers to my questions through out this site. Some good, some bad, but it's cheaper to learn here . Actually Gman, I already have my CDL, but it looks like I will have to goto a refresher course or to one of the carriers that has a training program. Right now, I am leaning toward driving for a company and than leasing to that company. I figure that I can get use to their dispatch system and then, after 6-12 months, buy truck and use that system. I am looking at buying a used truck for under $35k. I owned a flight school for 3 years and made the mistake of leasing three planes instead of buying them. Even though there might be a few tax advantages with leasing, I don't want to make that mistake again. That one cost me over $60K in equity. :x

Since I live in the Phoenix area, I thought about Swift. They 'claim' to have runs that keep drivers in the southwest. Any thoughts????

Like any business venture/new career, I can't start out with all the answers, but I am all about learning from others. Thanks again.

Swift is one that really pushes the lease-purchase program. Avoid that like the plague. In fact, avoid that MORE than you would avoid the plague. They are masters at squeezing money out of unsuspecting lease operators.

Of course, since you're doing your homework on here, you probably know that already! Still- had to say it.

As far as being a company driver and gaining driving experience through Swift, I have no opinion.

I do have an opinion about their training program. It stinks. They, and, unfortunately, many other of the larger companies, allow drivers with only 6 months experience to train other drivers. Thus, the complete inability of many Swift drivers to back up, pull forward, or practice common trucking courtesy.

That said- I am unable to offer advice as to who might have a more thorough training program. See, I can complain but I can't offer solutions- yup, she's a trucker!

Swift is one that really pushes the lease-purchase program. Avoid that like the plague. In fact, avoid that MORE than you would avoid the plague. They are masters at squeezing money out of unsuspecting lease operators.

Thanks Tweety. Yea, I researched most of the lease programs out there and I wasn't impressed. It seems that the only time anyone makes money is when all the stars are aligned and the wind is blowing just right. In my openion, the profit margins are too small to be paying over $2000 a month in payments. I would have to run upwards of 3000-3200 miles a week just to make a decent living. Even I know that's hard to do if I want to see home any. From time to time, I would like to be able to go home and remind my wife that she is actually married :lol: .

I guess I better go to another forum to find out where to pay my dues.

8) "I'll Be Back" 8)