Starting Own Trucking Authority......No CDL

Welcome Victor, your fighting an uphill battle... Do you personally know a freight broker??? Reason I ask is the big guys usually will not work with you unless you have had your authority for at least a year... The money you have on hand isn’t even enough to think about getting started. The buy a truck from a reputable dealer you will need between 20-30% down payment. Then a years worth of insurance, just to get started. Then you need a trailer.. What type are you looking at??? Tags, heavy use tax, and other associated startup costs will run you roughly 5-10k. A friend of mine recently bought his own truck and trailer, a flatbed. He bought a 1999 KW W900 in great shape. His trailer is a 2006 year model. He did pay cash for the truck and trailer. He shelled out just shy of 80K to put that truck on the road. Also I know of no insurance company that will touch a driver under 2 years experience. The big carriers are self insured is why they can hire students and new drivers. This is just a quick look at what you are looking at. It does go much deeper, I just hit the high points. Good luck too you

I should add I made 75k last year, but I didnt work as much as I could have. Some of our top guys are making up to 120k and they are home daily and off twice a week.

Where are you located? If your location is good you could land a pretty lucrative line-haul type job pulling doubles. You can make 80,000 plus dollars a year and be home on weekends, maybe even home nightly.

Southern California.

I'm capped out (salary wise) in my current office job (60k being the highest I'll ever make) and I'm sure most of you are aware that 60k for a large family in Southern California is extremely difficult to make it.

It's my understanding that if I drive for a company with no CDL (Swift for example), they pay their drivers $700 a week and it takes like 3-6 months to start making more than that.

I simply can't survive on that income and would have to figure out how to survive for 6 months.

I'm sure it gets better after the 6 months but if I could make at least 1k a week (which is at least equal to what I make now), it would be something I'd jump into right now.

My recommendation would be to do some research on linehaul and see you are interested in it, basically you run from 1 company terminal to another usually at night. Generally it is some the best paying jobs in trucking but it certainly lacks the adventures of OTR.

I would then call my local LTL companies such as Old Dominion, YRC, XPO, USF Holland and see what they have available.

You may have to go to private school to avoid working on their dock to driver programs, but once your CDL you will start at least .10+ cpm more than most OTR companies. I have been with Old Dominion since September 2017 and generally gross 12-1400 a week without a problem.

If you want to jump in and make a small fortune, start with a large fortune. I am an O/O leased onto a mega with my own, paid-for truck and it can be a tough go. I would not recommend it to anyone with zero experience driving.

My recommendation would be to do some research on linehaul and see you are interested in it, basically you run from 1 company terminal to another usually at night. Generally it is some the best paying jobs in trucking but it certainly lacks the adventures of OTR.

I would then call my local LTL companies such as Old Dominion, YRC, XPO, USF Holland and see what they have available.

You may have to go to private school to avoid working on their dock to driver programs, but once your CDL you will start at least .10+ cpm more than most OTR companies. I have been with Old Dominion since September 2017 and generally gross 12-1400 a week without a problem.

Thanks!

Victor you're gonna have to realize how critical productivity is in this job. It is a performance based income. Rookie drivers just have a hard time breaking into the really great money that's available to the street smart experienced drivers. I see it all the time. Many rookie drivers give up long before they get the hang of things. Some of them never "get it" and settle for making half of their potential.

Personally it took me about four years to really get my stride out here. I'm a top producer now getting plenty of special treatment and excellent wages. That takes time, and a really strong track record of over performing your dispatcher's expectations. That is not easy, nor will it happen quickly. There is a lot more to this than most people realize.

The potential for success is here for anyone to capitalize on, but the reality is that only about 4 or 5% of the people who try it truly go on to a successful career. That's how tough it is. There are literally thousands of new drivers starting this career each month, and literally that many bailing out at the same time.

Just for the sake of illustration I'm going to show you my pay stub this week. It was a typical week for me (3,300 miles), but it would be an unheard of week for most new drivers.

I work really crazy hours and love what I do. Eighty hour weeks are very common for me, and I really only go home for a couple of days each month. My point in all this is to help you realize the commitment involved in this career. You can't get to the top levels of pay without proving you are worth it. We don't have salaries, we only get paid for what we accomplish. That can be a blessing or a curse depending on your ability to make things happen out here. If you do this you'd better be prepared for a lean year and a half, and if you screw up some equipment you may be finished. It's not easy, but it is rewarding.

Understand a 34 hour break at home is NOT a normal persons "weekend off". it means you just put in 14 hours then need to drive home. Then you sleep, get up eat, shower see.family and then sleep again to get rested for your next week. and drive back to the terminal. Your 34 break starts from when you parked the truck and ends when you return.

just a thought.

Hi victor

Like old school said, it is an all in career. Unfortunately driving a truck is not a weekend hustle for extra income.

I would recommend calling up some driving schools and seeing what kind of opportunities in your area if you do decide to make a switch.

Good luck man.

Honestly, given your situation I can't imagine you getting started in trucking as a business owner. I love the idea of Linehaul for you considering your family situation. But it's highly unlikely you're going to get anywhere as a business owner in a commodity industry requiring huge capital expenditures and managing so many complexities.

If you wanted to drive and could find a job that was an upgrade in salary over where you're at I'd say consider that and then invest anything you'd like to invest in the stock market. That is a much safer, easier route to go than plopping down a massive pile of cash and going all-in on a commodity business like trucking, especially with no experience and no advantages going for you.