Getting Started

I am looking for something new in my life. I have the ability to purchase a truck for cash. No truck payment. I have nothing holding me back and could drive seven days a week. I've crunched some numbers using the best information I can find on the Internet and realized I could make a good living. My question is, could I feasibly drive 250,000 miles per year and find enough work to make that happen. I know that sounds like a lot of miles but if allowed, I have all the confidence that I can do that.

Hours of service would keep you from running that many miles in a year unless you are team driving.

250,000 miles in a year? Not a chance. I did approximately 120,000 my first year.

Keep in mind, the winter time is slow and miles drop.

You have a limit to how much you can drive, no more 3 logbooks.

Doing 10k each month is feasible. But getting to 13k is extremely rare and difficult. I've only done 13k one time!

Honestly, you're too new to this. I would get with a company and be a company driver for a year or preferably more to see if you'll like the lifestyle. If you do then only after a few years on the road can you make a good decision on this for yourself. But starting out as a rookie owning a truck is extremely financially risky.

First you need to make sure that this life is for you. I know you like to think you can drive 250k miles in a year but even if it was legal and you were getting the loads you wouldn't be able to handle it. Your body wouldn't handle it, and you would drive yourself to insanity. That's just far too much.

So I recommend that you get a job as a company driver and after a few years you can come back to this option. Until then you need to learn the industry and how it works if you want to make a profit as an O/O.

So I recommend that you get a job as a company driver and after a few years you can come back to this option. Until then you need to learn the industry and how it works if you want to make a profit as an O/O.

That could not be said any better. First of all, you don't want to start a business in an industry you're just getting started in. The fact that you even pondered being able to drive 250k miles in a year shows you're a long way from being able to make well-educated business decisions in this industry. You're definitely going to want to put in some years as a company driver to learn how things work and do your research.

But even then....the average profit margin in the trucking industry is 3%. That means that half the guys out there are running businesses, doing all that extra work, and taking an enormous financial risk but still make the same or less than a company driver.

One of the golden rules in business.....never start a business doing the same work and making the same money you would as an employee. It means you have all risk and no reward.

Another golden rule in business....never get into a commodity-based business where there's no way to differentiate yourself from the competition. There's no worthwhile profit in it.

Both of those rules apply to buying or leasing a truck. If you research it long and hard and you're brutally honest about the numbers you'll see that owning or leasing trucks and hauling freight is a fool's game. There's no worthwhile profit in it. It's a commodity service where only price matters. There's no way to differentiate yourself. All you wind up doing is chasing your tail endlessly trying to squeeze out a few pennies of profit.

Become a company driver and do your research. I think the closer you look at it the less you're going to like the idea of buying a truck.

Very well put.

"One of the golden rules in business.....never start a business doing the same work and making the same money you would as an employee. It means you have all risk and no reward.".....

my husband is still starting out he has been driving trucks for six years now it not the driving, is the companies why he keeps jumping around has to find which one suits him... he discussed with my going o/o and to these effects (the quote above) was what i have been tring to tell him!