So You Want To Own Your Own Truck?

My dad recently started a job as a shop supervisor for a Freighterliner dealer in hos 3 weeks there he has told a guy he needs to spend 21m to replace injectors and one box in his 2018 truck. Another one for about 9k for DPF filters and a wiring harness. Plus a brand new truck with 37 miles that already needs a new engine before it was even delivered, looks like the oil pump failed and locked up the engine.

All of these guys are having to pay for hotels in addition to the lost revenue.

Personally I'll stick with being a company driver if it breaks I never see the bill and just hop in another truck!

Good post . It begs the question of whether the O/O will cease to be in America. With rising costs and sooo many recommending AGAINST this idea of ownership in your own vehicle and business even if you are a knowledgeable veteran of it . My father was an O/O for a while many years ago when I suppose it was a little more profitable but with the way things are currently and the direction we seem to be going in it makes me wonder if an independent trucker will go the way of Blockbuster video. Personally i'm a bit sad for that .

with the way things are currently and the direction we seem to be going in it makes me wonder if an independent trucker will go the way of Blockbuster video. Personally i'm a bit sad for that .

I don't see that day coming anytime soon. The independent truckers are the greatest majority of trucking companies by far.

Call me stupid or perhaps a conspiracy theorist, but I honestly believe trucks are made to break these days. Its like cars, keep em up to 3 or 5 years and trade em in before the problems start, in and out seems like a waste to me frankly. Not saying the older trucks didn't have their issues either, but methinks the QC and designs are so poor these days that its almost anything but clearly intentional.

That said, I have already decided it would take an act of God and congress combined for me to ever want to buy, lease or own my own truck, hell, I knew that BEFORE I started trolling around here on TT 😜

Call me stupid or perhaps a conspiracy theorist, but I honestly believe trucks are made to break these days. Its like cars, keep em up to 3 or 5 years and trade em in before the problems start, in and out seems like a waste to me frankly. Not saying the older trucks didn't have their issues either, but methinks the QC and designs are so poor these days that its almost anything but clearly intentional.

That said, I have already decided it would take an act of God and congress combined for me to ever want to buy, lease or own my own truck, hell, I knew that BEFORE I started trolling around here on TT 😜

I HEAR you.. Tom's 1st truck of the 'day' .. headlights didn't work. (He'd mentioned that when he turned it in Friday, but fell on deaf ears?!? Lights >Intermittent I guess.)

SO ... 2nd truck.. single screw (all daycabs...) gets to the Pilot in Upper Sandusky (Ohio) for fuel.. starter goes OUT. I mean, TOTALLY GONE... in the fuel lane. (#18 to be exact; I OHGO'd him... yeah.)

He's got a 4 way swapthing going on, just to get him home; didn't make it to Campbell's.. they are repowering. Crap arske day!

~ Anne ~

Nope, when my trainer told me about having just spent $2500 on front end work and $35,000 on a new engine on his 2014 KW in late 2018 and it had 1.3 million miles on it, suddenly I had no desire to own or lease. He made his final truck payment in Nov 2018 when I was with him. Said in 2017 he paid about $90,000 in fuel costs.

Back when I started in '88, everyone was on the CB. I had thought about owning a truck, but when I talked with OOs and found out the costs and what they were responsible for, especially the paperwork, I knew that part of trucking wasn't for me.

It definitely isn't now, especially when I make pretty close to what lease Ops are bringing home and without the headaches!

Laura

Where's PJ these days, btw ?!? Our resident mod & O/O ?!?

~ Anne ~

I would love to hear his take on this . It seems in this industry at least that the entrepreneurial spirit will cease to be with the exhorbinat costs and government regulations to be your own boss . I believe most O/O are well over 40 and the next generation is not going to be able or willing and even strongly dissuaded from this route . After all , the megas started out as small operations themselves and grew but will this exist in the future . I think it's a reflection of our time really . It seemed a lot more reasonable to be an O/O decades ago just looking at fuel and insurance costs alone . I understand there are a lot of small companies and O/Os out there but from all I hear is most are treading water .Anyway , Thoughts ?

Seabee-J, there will always be the entrepreneurial spirit that drives people to be independent truckers. The real problem is that the trucking business is a commodities business. It has very small profits. To succeed in this type business requires cutting costs every way you can. A commodities business is always improved by economies of scale. That means growth is required to gain the advantage. The independents can't compete with the advantages that come from the purchasing powers gained by larger companies.

What can the independents do? They can lease their rigs to these big carriers and gain some of those advantages. It is just a tough business all around. The independent O/O's will always be here with us, and they will always figure out how to keep up their business, but it will never be a wildly profitable enterprise. In a commodities business the lowest bid gets the work. There will always be niches and specialty work around, but nothing stays unique for long in this business.

If you study the financials of these large major carriers you will find that their profits are only in the 3 to 5% range. That is one tough nut to cut!