Could I Make Money As An Owner Op With My Wife As My Co-driver?

This is not something I'm doing tommorow but an option we have talked about and something that sounded bullet proof to us with two incomes coming in on the same truck

Jack, what we have been working on establishing for you is that you should be company drivers as a team - that is the "bullet proof" way of going about this.

That idea of getting over a dollar a mile is just running ramshod over your good senses. You, can't see what we're trying to say because you think you've somehow found a pot of gold that nobody else knows about.

That dollar amount is what is paid to the truck for the miles the truck gets done. So yes, each driver is getting paid that amount for their driving. That dollar amount is not the amount you will be "making." It is a number that represents revenues and not even closely related to net pay.

You guys are demonstrating why we try not to discuss leasing. Unholy Chaos says his mind is made up, no matter what a bunch knowledgeable people who only have his best interest as their motivation for trying to help him do well at this.

You guys are seeing dollar signs while heading right over a cliff. It boils down to being an emotional response rather than a logical one based on facts, but that is always where these matters go afoul.

We wish you guys the best, but always find it frustrating the way people love getting our advice until it comes to this one aspect of trucking.

This thread has made me curious about how it relates to repair and maintenance.

But first, an newbee perspective: Both leased and company owned trucks break down at roughly the same rate. As a company driver, the company is responsible for all repairs and maintenance. The company compensates your down time...to some degree, and gets you another truck if you need it. As a L/O, the driver is responsible for all repairs and maintenance, right? And when your truck is down, the company does not compensate your down time, or give you a another truck. Just based on that, the whole L/O or company driver question seems like a no brainer for a rookie. To be successful, you'd have to find a way to reduce the the risk of lost income, or the potential for it to outweigh the extra pay per mile is too high. A dedicated savings account for the purpose of covering a year of "worst case" repair costs might do it.

A few questions:

What is the cost of maintenance per year on a Semi? I assume it increases as you get closer to the end of a lease.

Can a L/O buy a service contract to cover all repairs and maintenance? How much would that cost per year?

How much does it cost if you blow a tire?

How about the cost of replacing worn breaks, and how often?

What about a medium level of damage like what happened to Rainy's truck when it got towed.

What if you blow an engine or tranny under circumstances that's not covered under warranty? What does that cost?

How much does a tow cost?

And what happens to your trailer if a L/O vehicle goes down. Does the company send another driver to take your load?

Sorry for so many!

Thanks!

This thread appears to be a good location for asking a question. Moat people have been talking about leasing from a particular company and working for that company. My question is, do any of you have experience leasing from an outside source that does not bind you to any paticular company? In esence one could run for anyone or themselves from loadboards and brokers as an o/o. Would this be a viable option? I'm still new and have been a company driver for 4 months and looking at options. I want at least a year's experience before venturing out on my own. Thanks in advance.

Mr Burton seeks understanding:

Wow I guess I should have checked this sooner but I've heard all this before but I don't understand how if we're leasing as a team how would we be paid? Would it be split pay or would we both get over a dollar a mile?

First, the team pay. The truck rolls any number of miles in a week. The company takes the 55¢ per mile (or whatever) and splits it evenly between the two team members. one gets 27½¢, the other gets 27½¢, too. There is no accounting for one driver doing more driving than the other.

Now, leasing as a team. If one person owns the truck and the other drives, you have a boss/employee relationship. That is actually a better deal.

If you and your buddy smile, shake hands and agree to "50/50" business relationship for the lease, you are going to go over a cliff, and probably sooner rather than later. It is a classic problem for any partnership like that: there will be accusations of not doing half the work or getting paid what you feel you really did put in yourself. Get on Netfilx or something and watch The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to understand the lifetime of such a partnership.

You also have to remember that the more mile's a truck has on it the more repair costs it will take to keep it running.

I make that kind of money weekly. My company trades in trucks every 3 years or before the truck reaches 500k miles.

I don't have the risk, I have great benefits, and I average 12-1500 a week AFTER TAXES. I might clear $800 or so if I go HOME for 3 or 4 days.

All I can say is "may the Force be with you.". May you never get sick. May you never have a breakdown. May you never need a tire, have freight claims, or accidental damage. May you never need a day off.

Consider the number of miles a true team truck will turn in a year. That truck won't last as long as you might think. Good luck and prayers.. you'll need it.

First off, I'm sorry I kind of hijacked your thread mate. This will be my last comment on the thread, I promise!

Second, I really appreciate the feedback and I do understand that you guys know more about the business than I do, but I'm still going to go for it when I can. My mind is made up, and at the end of the day, it's my choice and it'll be my responsibility if I screw up and realize I can't make it.

Actually it's up to you and your wife. You should have open and honest discussions about this with her. Show her this thread. From everything you have said, it seems to me you are setting yourself up for failure. How much do you know about running a business? I hope you reach your dreams without a crash and burn along the way. Good luck.

Ok, I have stayed out of this discussion until now. No matter how you slice/dice this question, it all comes down to the bottom line of you will make about the same amount of money (MAYBE a little more) as a company driver when its all said and done (and that's per driver).

I have been a L/O with Prime for the vast majority of the last 5 years and can tell you from personal experience this is how it plays out. It doesn't matter about your gross pay, it's the amount you take home that matters. I have all the responsibility of up keep of the truck, all repairs, all fuel/tires/brakes.

Because Prime has a set time frame on their trucks before they turn them in, it is also based on mileage. As a solo driver, I just turned in my truck to Prime the end of last month (end of 3 year lease), it had just shy of 350,000 miles (it must have also been a solo driver that had it before me). Prime keeps their truck up to 3 years or 500,000 miles which ever comes first. Now as a team, you might very well turn in that truck well before the 3 years because of mileage.

Cutting to the chase of this whole discussion, unless you are willing to take all the responsibility of maintenance/repair/fuel/tires/etc, why do you want to do this?

For me personally, I am retired military and my wife works as well. So it's not about the money for me as it is other perks you get as a L/O at Prime as to why I do lease.

Ernie

This thread appears to be a good location for asking a question. Moat people have been talking about leasing from a particular company and working for that company. My question is, do any of you have experience leasing from an outside source that does not bind you to any paticular company? In esence one could run for anyone or themselves from loadboards and brokers as an o/o. Would this be a viable option? I'm still new and have been a company driver for 4 months and looking at options. I want at least a year's experience before venturing out on my own. Thanks in advance.

From my understanding, you would have to get your own authority to do this. That opens up a whole extra set of costs. You would have to buy, or lease your own trailer, as well. "O/O companies" like Landstar, or CRST Malone, exist so those drivers do not have to drive under their own authority.

At least, this is the way I understand it works

Since you guys are on the topic. My wife and I have a decade of running our own company and may consider going O/O at some point. That being said, we've vowed not to even consider leasing or purchasing until we have sufficient industry experience to fully understand what we're getting into. My question is: Is it commonplace for companies to try to pressure new employees into leasing? Is it something where you end up getting punished on miles/loads if you don't eventually lease?

Is it something where you end up getting punished on miles/loads if you don't eventually lease?

That would seem suicidal from the employer's point of view, parking their own expensive trucks while handing loads off to Lease/Operators.

My worries would be the opposite: If I'm an O/O or L/O with a carrier that has its own employee driven fleet, will they keep the best paying loads for their own trucks?