I've drove big rigs and cargo vans OTR many years ago. I have been providing local service for last-mile delivery for the past 10 years. I'm curious, If I purchase a cargo/sprinter van to put OTR and find a driver, would I make a decent amount of money? I know it's based on acceptance of loads, pay rate, etc. but I was wondering if it would be worth my while. I was thinking about going with Bolt, V3 or Panther. I was going to buy a van out right and would like some advice before I do so. Thanks in advance.
How Much?
- Thread starter JFE
- Start date
Owners can't keep drivers in the van as it is. Too many people getting a piece of a small pie. 1 van operation with a driver would be hard to make anything worth wild, and you have all the risk. It's not as easy as it sounds.
Thanks for the reply. Would you think purchasing a straight truck would be better? Do you know of any successful fleet owners I can speak with and learn from? I don't need to take any profit from the vans for right now until I build a fleet. If I did want to get into this business, how would you suggest I start? Thank you.
I drive and own a solo straight truck right now, and struggling. I'm sure there are some fleet owners doing well, I just don't know any. It's a struggle for anybody, especially right now with low rates and lack of freight/high competition. And the cost only increase with straights. Teams have always been best and most profitable for straights, but that's not even a given. Same household teams are ideal if you can find them or be one.
Did you sign up under another company? I guess I really won't know how this would work unless I actually put a van or two out on the road with maybe a couple different companies. Maybe one person's struggle is my type of success lol.
I did not sign, no. I just decided otherwise, for a few reasons 1) not having any savings to start with, so didnt want to be in a bind going OTR the first few weeks being the roughest and close to Winter time, 2) I have a bad L5, and a left hand broke that didnt heal correctly (I plan to have it rebroke) and didnt want to go through the hassel of failing DOT physical. So I thought I was making a good decision
honestly if you’re buying a van and putting a driver in it expecting easy profit, nah man, margins are thin right now, you’ll gross maybe decent numbers but after driver pay, fuel, maintenance, insurance, dead miles, it shrinks fast, especially with carriers like Panther or Bolt taking their cut too, you might see like 1k to 2k net some weeks, other weeks barely anything if freight slows, and managing a driver OTR is its own headache, people quit, sit, mess up loads, if you already run last mile you know the drill, OTR just adds chaos, if you really wanna test it, lease on first or run it yourself for a bit before throwing money at a second driver, otherwise you’re kinda gambling tbh