Advice?

[BigCat]

Ok in the future (1 1/2 to 2 years) I plan on buying a straight truck and running as an o/o. I want to have enough I can pay majority off and have low if any payments.

What fees are associated with startup? Should I insure through the company or a cmv insurance company? Are the plates driver or company responsibility? How does the fsc program work?

The reason I'm waiting this time frame is to have enough to fall back on when things get slow.

Please by all means offer advice if you have it. Please don't say "this isn't for you" crap as I'm already driving for fleetowner and have an idea of the headaches.

 

[Monty]

First .... why not discuss this with your owner? He/she certainly knows all that it takes.

As for costs associated with ownership, YOU want your own plates, ins, etc.

If you are using "company" plates, or insurance, what happens if you choose to switch carriers?

FSC depends on the lease agreement you have with the carrier. Mine provides 100% of it to me.

 

[BigCat]

I will talk about it with my owner in due time I'm just hoping to get some ideas of what I'm looking at to start up.

Also my owner is on here so I'm sure he will see this and offer advice but I'm looking for advice from guys with different scenarios of how they started.

 

[Monty]

Well, (and I know this controversial), I never paid any cash, (down payment), toward the purchase of a vehicle.

I prefered to work on THEIR money, (financing agency), not mine. But I may be an exception because of my very high credit score.

Interest was usually in the 10% range, and I used it as a tax write off.

Only once have I ever used company plates. I once purchased a tractor in California, and had to get it back to Ohio. There was no "dealer plate", or 30 day tag option.

So Jones Motor Fedex'ed me an IRP plate, and when it expired, I purchased my own.

I have leased vechicles also, once. I did a lease with Freightliner, it was ok, but prefered the actual purchase, so I never did it again. Once more, a 100% tax write off. They took the depreciation.

I might suppose if you felt the business was a shaky thing to begin with, you might want to make that large down payment, or pay it off completly. I was never concerned about the folks I was doing business with.

In the begining it was Roberts Express, then Hot Shot Express then Landstar. I knew they were solid companies that fit into what I wanted to accomplish, and the revenue would pay the expense of the truck payments.

BUT! Be sure you do have capital to operate the thing on, to produce the revenue! Maybe take that down payment you mentioned and sock it in the bank, for repairs, etc

 

[greg334]

IT depends on what you are going to be doing.

I mean let's start with the company you intend to be leased to, and what they have to offer.

What comes to mind is plates - 500 to 1200 a year. DO NOT GET the plates from the company, get it on your own.

Then signage - I would guess $300 but it all depends.

Then qualcomm install - that's depends on the company.

Insurance may be better to go with the company to get on the road than to pay up front - depends on the company.

 

[BigCat]

I'm pretty happy with panther so if/when I do this I'd more than likely stay here.

When I do this though I will compare companies such as rpm,estimated miles,sign on bonus ect.

I DON'T plan on just jumping in to something that could make or break me without doing research and getting opinions.

 

[greg334]

I'm pretty happy with panther so if/when I do this I'd more than likely stay here.

When I do this though I will compare companies such as rpm,estimated miles,sign on bonus ect.

I DON'T plan on just jumping in to something that could make or break me without doing research and getting opinions.

Well here is a bit of important advice, things change and they don't always appear what they actually are.

What I mean is that comparing companies is like comparing types of tomatoes, they can be all different with some great qualities but until you take a bite of one, you can't really be sure it is for you.

I would overlook the stats that many give out and form a plan that would work for you in your situation, so many weeks out with a bottom line of say 80 cents per mile at the BEP and start talking to all the companies.

I know a few who have walked into the recruiter's office with a form with about 30 questions on it, asked those questions and wrote down the information. One guy walked into a local company here with it, the recruiter made some dumba** comment and he walked right back out without saying a word because the comment said a lot about the company.

I wouldn't put much credence in say sign on bonuses (if any company is offering that, it shows me and others the company may have a high turnover rate or just p*ss poor), or inspection bonuses - the performance of the company to keep you running is the most important. This is a business, you're not employees and what matters is the respect that is shown to you as a capacity provider in making sure that your capacity is used to its fullest.

Now with that said, Panther has one advantage I wish others (including my own) would offer - they allow YOU to find your own loads and process those loads for you, taking the responsibility to collect. I love my company and wouldn't mind giving up their percentage to them if I could do this but they don't so I can't and miss out on maybe $7000 to $8000 a month in revenue. Panther allows this and what you can do is somewhat step out of the norm and actually make a good amount of money if done right.