Opinion Wanted On My Buying A Truck

Gm fellow readers. Just would like some opinion from truck owners. Next year I'm getting my cdl permit and am thinking on purchasing a used tractor. Know a couple drivers and thinking of using them as my teachers toward gaining my license. I've worked in a factory 23yrs n not interested being a company man in manufacturing or trucking. Any insight would be greatly accepted. Thinking of starting out hauling drayage in home city .

Hello Eddy, and welcome to the forum!

We really don't give advice on truck ownership here as our focus is on helping new drivers or wannabes learn the ropes of how to make a good start in this business. So, I'm gonna leave the truck ownership question alone other than to tell you I've owned trucks before, had as many as six at one time, and I think it is a much more solid decision in this business to be a company driver. I was a successful business owner for thirty years so I understand the desire to be self-employed, and I also know how to make a dollar, but trucks are a money sucking black-hole in my honest opinion.

Now, I would recommend that you not try and learn to drive from your friends who have been doing this for years - things have changed so much in the past ten years or so. For you to even be considered by an insurance company for insurance on a rig you are going to have to have verifiable experience or a training certificate indicating 160 hours of professional training, neither of which your friends can provide for you without being dishonest about it. We have a great resource for learning the material needed for your written exams - you should avail yourself of our free High Road Training Program.

Best of luck to ya Eddy, drayage is a good way to go as an owner operator , but I just don't care for the odds of the owner operator game.

Eddy, I may have misspoken about the insurance, you can probably get it but you would get a much better rate with the training certificate or the verifiable experience.

Eddy, because we mentor new drivers into the industry we have a policy that we don't really discuss buying or leasing trucks. In our opinion you shouldn't consider buying or leasing a truck without some significant experience in the industry as a company driver, at least a couple of years. People tend to drastically underestimate how difficult it is getting your driving career underway and they also drastically underestimate how difficult it is to learn to run your own business. Trying to do both at the same time is a recipe for disaster. It's just too much stress, too much to learn, and you're going to make too many major mistakes with both your driving and your business to have a great chance of success with either one.

So I'd recommend planning on being a company driver for a couple of years first. Learn how the industry works, how to manage your life on the road, and how to handle a rig before trying to tackle running a business in one of the most cutthroat industries you'll find anywhere.

Best of luck to ya.

Oh yeah, the schooling thing. I agree with Old School that having your buddies teach you is the way it was done in the 70's. Nowadays the requirements are much more strict and you're going to severely limit your chances of finding work if you don't go to a legitimate truck driving school. A lot of old timers are going to poo-poo all that and say, "Oh you don't need all that schooling garbage. They're just trying to steal your money. Anyone can teach you to drive." Well again, in the 70's that was true but not today. It's not that it's impossible to do but you wouldn't want to have such a shaky foundation to a challenging, high risk career like trucking. You want to make sure you get good, solid training and have every opportunity possible to land a good job once you get your CDL.

Here are some great links for you:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

Have to agree with Old School and Brett here. I work for a small company and I get to see the costs of keeping our trucks running. One example, we had a driver who didn't like to check the oil on his truck and because of his negligence, ruined an engine. The truck now has a brand new Cat in it, too the tune of almost $44,000. The truck only has 485,000 miles on it, hardly time for a new engine. My point being that even simple repairs are expensive, also include the fact that while it's being repaired, you have a truck payment due and the truck isn't generating any revenue while sitting in the shop. Give yourself a couple years as a company driver to get to know the ins and outs of the industry. Then, if you're still set on buying a truck, I'd suggest looking at leasing from a lease company so that you get a warranty and in some cases an all inclusive maintenance program as well. Going this route will allow you to run with other brokers and decide the freight you want to haul, rather than be tied specifically to a company. Financially, it makes more sense to stay as a company driver and make your money while they absorb the risk of ownership but there's nothing to say you couldn't make it as an O/O so long as you have a good plan set in place and the right contacts.

Eddy, I may have misspoken about the insurance, you can probably get it but you would get a much better rate with the training certificate or the verifiable experience.

Insurance for an O/O (Interstate Trucking Liability), running their own authority is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE to obtain without at least 1 years fully documented OTR experience - and if you CAN get it - it will run you almost as much as a truck payment (we're talking around $1,800 a month).

Most (if not all) carrier that will "lease on" an owner operator - likewise require 1 year DOCUMENTED OTR experience, in order for you to lease on.

So - as everyone has advised already. Best bet would STILL BE to go out, get trained and run on the companies dime and equipment for a year - before making a decision to invest in equipment of your own.

Depending on your location - the container business for independents could be VERY COMPETITIVE.

I've done work in Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) as a longshoreman - and the container business here is VERY CUT-THROAT amongst the independents. And again - in order to lease on your equipment to one of the carriers that run out of the port, requires a years experience (I did the research a few years ago).

Best of luck.

Rick

Thanks for the inputs. That's what I like about TT, advise from those that have already tested the waters.