For the o/o on the road

[Sandoval191]

I'm a company driver make close 100,000/year gross I'm thinking about buying own truck my question is for you guys that have a truck is what are the things I should be looking at going into this journey? What kind of questions should I be asking? I know the responsibility would be greater I guess what I'm asking is will it be worth it going into this?

 

[mndriver]

It’s a business.

treat it as such.

you should have been recording the maintenance and others costs you’ve been a part of for some time.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Has anyone ever been able to pay themselves 100k right off the bat after going from company to O/O?

I know I can't do that yet. That's one thing to consider. Maybe you need to start out better than I did, I dunno.

My neighbor didn't want to give up a certain level of personal income so he sold his truck back when things got bad and went back to being a company driver. Now he's miserable. All because he didn't want to give up his hobbies for a patch.

 

[Mike]

There are many ways to do this and succeed. Also many ways to fail, and those ways are very similar to the ways you succeed. In other words, high risk.

This is not scientific, by any means, but I'll throw a little out there.

If you buy a new truck and trailer, I would have $10k on hand to cover fuel expenses as well as good credit to get started. You could factor your invoices, but that is a hole you don't want to get into if you don't have to. No sense in giving your money away. If your credit is really good, you can go in with less cash, but I wouldn't advise it.

New Truck and extended warranty, 10 cents per mile set aside for maintenance. Trade out of the truck toward the end of the warranty.

If you go in with used equipment, I would suggest $30k in cash to handle fuel expenses and unexpected upfront repairs, and set aside 20 cents per mile for maintenance. Set aside more if you can because the unknowns of taking on a used truck can be very costly in the beginning until you get the truck up to where it needs to be. You can always go with less cash if you have available credit lines, but I wouldn't do that unless there was no option.

In other words, run the company truck until you at least have the funds I mentioned before making the leap.

 

[Electric Chicken]

There are many ways to do this and succeed. Also many ways to fail, and those ways are very similar to the ways you succeed. In other words, high risk.

This is not scientific, by any means, but I'll throw a little out there.

If you buy a new truck and trailer, I would have $10k on hand to cover fuel expenses as well as good credit to get started. You could factor your invoices, but that is a hole you don't want to get into if you don't have to. No sense in giving your money away. If your credit is really good, you can go in with less cash, but I wouldn't advise it.

New Truck and extended warranty, 10 cents per mile set aside for maintenance. Trade out of the truck toward the end of the warranty.

If you go in with used equipment, I would suggest $30k in cash to handle fuel expenses and unexpected upfront repairs, and set aside 20 cents per mile for maintenance. Set aside more if you can because the unknowns of taking on a used truck can be very costly in the beginning until you get the truck up to where it needs to be. You can always go with less cash if you have available credit lines, but I wouldn't do that unless there was no option.

In other words, run the company truck until you at least have the funds I mentioned before making the leap.

This is what I meant to say. I'm running older used stuff and I can't pay myself 100k until I get a lot more comfort cash in the business account, which I want to have stockpiled ASAP.

I've been in debt. Stupid consumer debt, and dug myself out. I absolutely do not want to revisit that on the commercial side, even though my credit rating would let me.

 

[Mike]

Has anyone ever been able to pay themselves 100k right off the bat after going from company to O/O?

I know I can't do that yet. That's one thing to consider. Maybe you need to start out better than I did, I dunno.

My neighbor didn't want to give up a certain level of personal income so he sold his truck back when things got bad and went back to being a company driver. Now he's miserable. All because he didn't want to give up his hobbies for a patch.

Tricky question. I will never make $100k in yearly salary unless our monthly expenses at home get out of hand. That said, my salary stays consistent even when I am out of the truck for 3 months, and could stay that way for an entire year or more if needed.

The average owner op leased to a carrier won't make that much. In some situations, they will, but those opportunities are few and far between.

Independent, it's very possible if you start out well prepared.

 

[Mike]

I've been in debt. Stupid consumer debt, and dug myself out. I absolutely do not want to revisit that on the commercial side, even though my credit rating would let me.

Debt sucks. I have a house payment ( really low interest) and a car payment (zero interest). The car was seriously not a good choice, but I don't care. At 50 years old, one kid now grown, I decided to buy a toy. Personal cash was there to pay cash, but with zero interest and good money skills, I chose to keep it and invest it rather than pay for the vehicle.

Never want to be in debt again other than the mortgage, and if just one stock would go as planned, I would sell 1/3 of it and go pay off the house just to get that burden off my shoulders

 

[Electric Chicken]

Tricky question. I will never make $100k in yearly salary unless our monthly expenses at home get out of hand. That said, my salary stays consistent even when I am out of the truck for 3 months, and could stay that way for an entire year or more if needed.

The average owner op leased to a carrier won't make that much. In some situations, they will, but those opportunities are few and far between.

Independent, it's very possible if you start out well prepared.

I have it projected that I could get there eventually but I've never heard anyone honestly say they stepped away from a company gig making that much and never stopped paying themselves the same.

So I guess if I'm worthy of giving advice it would be

1. Don't buy a truck that doesn't have a million easy to find vendors for brand specific parts.

2. Don't get too tied to your personal company salary.

3. Some brand new 7 ways suck ass.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Debt sucks. I have a house payment ( really low interest) and a car payment (zero interest). The car was seriously not a good choice, but I don't care. At 50 years old, one kid now grown, I decided to buy a toy. Personal cash was there to pay cash, but with zero interest and good money skills, I chose to keep it and invest it rather than pay for the vehicle.

Never want to be in debt again other than the mortgage, and if just one stock would go as planned, I would sell 1/3 of it and go pay off the house just to get that burden off my shoulders

Agreed. I went stupid on toys but I'm over that phase. They're all gone.

The mortgage and the Mack are literally the only two debts I have. It's a relief but I'm also wanting the Mack paid off as soon as I have double its purchase price in the bank. One to replace it entirely if it implodes or take care of any major repair, the other to actually pay it off. The APR isn't bad, especially for a used truck, but I'm wanting to eliminate all recurring fixed obligations.

That's why I made my personal income modest. The less that's transferred to my personal bank, the more stays in the business checking.

 

[Mike]

I have it projected that I could get there eventually but I've never heard anyone honestly say they stepped away from a company gig making that much and never stopped paying themselves the same.

I know guys who stepped into this with a non emission 12.7 Detroit, bought the truck for cash, and killed in virtually overnight.

Took preparation. Find the right truck. Oil samples and mechanic inspections until the perfect truck shows up.

I wasn't able to do that, because I'm a snowflake that had to have a new truck. So, my pre emissions truck cost me over 150k, then because it was a Fitzgerald failure of an engine, cost me out the ass 300,000 miles later, and again at 500,000 miles.

And I'm still a snowflake that has to buy a new truck, and will most likely always buy a new truck, LOL.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I know guys who stepped into this with a non emission 12.7 Detroit, bought the truck for cash, and killed in virtually overnight.

Took preparation. Find the right truck. Oil samples and mechanic inspections until the perfect truck shows up.

I wasn't able to do that, because I'm a snowflake that had to have a new truck. So, my pre emissions truck cost me over 150k, then because it was a Fitzgerald failure of an engine, cost me out the ass 300,000 miles later, and again at 500,000 miles.

And I'm still a snowflake that has to buy a new truck, and will most likely always buy a new truck, LOL.

My old truck needed too much too soon otherwise I'd still be running it.

The Mack has been good so far with only minor quarbles, some of which they warrantied.

XPO fuel discounts on the Comdata are huge so that helps me with the lack of aero. I'm only in the low to mid 6s unlike some of these sleeper folks. They struggle getting in and out some places though so it's all a trade off.

I tried running 60mph as a direct comparison to what I did and knew at Schneider but the truck won't do it. 60 is the high RPM side of 11th.

I'd spend coin on a big factory roof doohickey in a heartbeat if I could guarantee getting in the low 7s or even high 6s.