I would advise you to run your own truck for a while before adding another truck. Get used to the extra paperwork and how to successfully run your one truck before going out and buying another truck. Things will look much different when you start having drivers in your trucks. Although there are similarities in running with Landstar as compared to your own authority, it is different when you have no one to back you up. Sometimes you can expand too fast. It is also very difficult to drive and run another truck at the same time. It takes time to find decent paying loads, especially these days. If you plan on staying home and putting drivers in both trucks then it is difficult to have enough profit for the driver and owner with the current rates. I think what you want to do can be good, but I would encourage you to take it a bit slower.

 

Henboy,
Get the second truck and call me. Load It

 

GMAN, your advice is well taken, but I don't think it should take that much intellect to know how to do this paper work stuff.I think it takes business skills and computer savy and once you have it, you can fly out the door to the next step.
Filing for my weight distance taxes online,doing my quarterly IFTA,not factoring and doing credit checks and invoicing is the easiest part but the hardest is finding the good paying freight(you are right about that).I am not jumping now to get the second truck.I am doing my research at the moment for 3-4 months ahead.I don't see how it should take someone more than 3 months to learn this "business".
Just went through my "new entrant review" and it was much easier than what I expected.

I am just needing advice for a reliable truck when I am ready.I have already done a spreadsheet on what I should be expecting.
The driver or equipment will be very crucial, but for now the research on an equipment is what's at stake.
LOADIT, you will definitely get a call from me around FEB.

 

Take it one step at a time, I had 5 trucks and trailers not long ago, and it is not as easy as it looks, trust me. We just closed the doors this past summer.

If you want to add trucks, I would look at finding an owner op with a trailer and start that way, just lease him on. See how that works out for you, especially in this economy, as it is going to get worse here in the coming quarters. As there is still allot of spam waiting to hit the fan, along with higher job killing taxes, commercial loans and unfunded mandates coming down the pike real soon.

Save your money in regards to equipment and get an extra fuel card for that new O/O. I think you will actually make more money that way if you have the freight.

 

This leads me to another question.Justtrucking, when you had your 5 trucks, how did you go about having people lease on to you?.I am definitely not going down that route yet, I am just curious.I am curious to know on the insurance side.Why would an owner operator( with truck and trailer)be willing to lease on to someone like me and be paying about $8k on insurance?Is it not cost effective to lease on to a bigger carrier where he can get free cargo insurance,pay about $80/month for bobtail and Occupational hazard and get their base plate financed?Better yet, go get his own authority if he had to pay that amount.A guy wanted me to lease him on but I said NO, and not with this FMCSA2010 coming up.Is there a trick to this, as far as insurance when someone wants me to lease him on?

 

henboy,

I have a good friend with his own authority and only two trucks. He and I have kicked around the idea of leasing my truck on with him. He would be paying the cargo/liabilty, not me. If you can find an O/O to pay your cargo/liabilty, you have the sweetest deal ever I suppose. I am starting to see carriers advertising for leased O/O's, offering contracts that stipulate the O/O pays the cargo/liability. Only a very uninformed/inexperienced or desperate poor soul would agree to that deal, IMO. Mostly on craigslist do I see this popping up more often. One carrier even stated the amount per month, calling it a "good deal" (it wasn't), I suppose hoping some unsuspecting newbie wouldn't know any better. Heck, if a leased O/O is paying the cargo/liabilty, why would the carrier even shop for the best rate?

I would consider leasing on with him because we communicate well, he knows how I run and I know what he expects. I would not need furnished plates or cheaper bobtail insurance, thankfully my budget allows me to cover that without assistance. I would probably only consider a deal like that, leasing onto a very small carrier, if I already knew someone.

I agree with you that if you're paying cargo/liability for a carrier you're leased to, you might as well get your own authority.

 

henboy,

You put the owner op under your cargo insurance and pay him 85% (Or whatever you two would agree to) and 1099 him. He brings his truck, trailer, base plate and bobtail insurance. This way is cheaper than buying trucks, just give your insurance carrier a call to see if it affects your rates on your cargo insurance.

When you lease a driver and his equipment on, it is still handled the same way you would handle a driver in your own truck. You still need to jump through all of the hoops, background check, keeping track of his logs, safety, drug tests, etc... You just do not have the equipment expenses, as the O/O takes care of his own ride.

You will need to give him a fuel card, which you will subtract out of his pay. Just make sure you have enough money to pay him and give him advances.

Try this route first to see if you can even keep a guy happy and running. And then figure what it would cost you to employ a driver along with the fun of owning another tractor and trailer. It is allot more expensive to go the route you want to go, with maint., repairs, insurance, etc... Save your money and use a guy with his own equipment, fewer headaches that way.

Good luck!

 

And I have not read through this entire thread, but what are you hauling? Do you have freight already or are you going to depend on the load boards? Who will dispatch the trucks, find the freight and handle all of the paperwork involved with securing a load and setting up new accounts? You will need someone working from home to handle this part of the business, setting up broker and shipper accounts along with billing and payroll. They will need a computer along with a fax, scanner, copier and a phone.

And I think I noticed that you are not factoring? Are you able to pay for fuel for another truck or two, cover any emergencies and make payroll along with advances on a weekly basis? When I hung it up, my average time to pay was out 60 days, that is a long time to carry a company. Because when you get right down to it, that is all we are, a credit company that extends credit to brokers and shippers. And then we have the credit checks, they need to be made religiously for every load you haul for a direct shipper and or a broker. These guys can go t-ts up in the blink of an eye without any notice and really leave you hanging, especially in this economy. I would seriously look into factoring your paper unless you have a few hundred thousand minimum in your bank account. Trust me, that is chump change when you get a small handful of trucks running out here and have to pay for fuel and cover payroll. Think about it, say three trucks, fuel in all of them, payroll, the office gal, your bills, your companies bills, advances, repairs, tires, oil changes, food, etc... Now multiply that out 60 days. And don't expect money to just start flowing in, as you will find it flows out quicker than you can write checks. And those checks are hit and miss, they will tell you the check is in the mail, and you can wind up spending months on waiting for that freshly mailed check.

And stay away from credit cards, they can lead to a slow and lingering death to a small outfit if your cash flow takes a hit.

And to let you know, and this is back before the fuel spiked over $2, we needed to make a minimum of $1.55 a mile clear to break even on our trucks and pay our drivers. And that was for all miles, empty and loaded. Anything over that $1.55 went into the company, anything under, it came out of my pocket. When rates started their collapse and fuel hit $4 we were pretty much finished. We sold all of our equipment off except my truck and two trailers. I just sold the last trailer a few months back and am damn glad to be out of trucking. It sucked the life out of us both financially and emotionally along with my health.

 

And here is another thing... I am sure this was not mentioned but it is a problem you MAY run into, especially in this economy. Your DOT number will be new, some brokers/shippers, but not all, will not put freight on a new guys trucks. Nothing against you personally, but there are more than a few outfits out here that are fresh start ups that are ripping off brokers and shippers. They are holding freight hostage, and there are more than a few guys making a living like that right now. When the word gets out, they start all over again with a fresh DOT number and address. Just something you should be aware of.

And then we have your insurance, it will be high to start, as they will want you to pay your dues, both literally and figuratively, roughly $8000 (if you are lucky) up to $13,000 a year depending on who you use. Look at Progressive for bob tail and liability, they do not handle cargo, so shop around. And this may lead to a problem if you lease on trucks, it varies between insurance carriers. And stay away from OOIDA insurance. Many of the larger carriers that broker freight will not honor OOIDA cargo inurance. Land Star, PRIME and England are three that I know of right off the top of my head.

You have allot of work to do and allot to learn.

 

If I were going to expand I would primarily look at 3 trucks. Freightliner, International and Volvo. Volvo is the most comfortable truck on the market today. You can buy a Freightliner for less than most most other trucks. I have had better service out of International than any other brand that I have owned. There are other models which could serve you well but will likely cost more money. A T600, 387 Peterbilt might work for you and they would get decent fuel mileage, but you may also pay a higher price than the first three that I mentioned. When I look for trucks I have a few basics that I need and anything else is a compromise. I look for value and price. Some things I won't compromise on when it comes to buying a truck. One thing that I would advise you is to NOT get hung up on any single model or brand. Look for value. That doesn't mean buying the cheapest or most expensive just something that fits the job. For instance, you will want a different truck pulling a van than if you plan on pulling flats. Now is a great time to buy if you have the money.