Originally Posted by Heavy Duty

Several things the LS deduct for escrow and tags does not last all year
you will have to pay workers comp on your driver
forget 7 mpg plan on 5.5 - 6
Are you sure you and your driver will be accepted by LS, meeting their requirements and getting a lease are 2 different things, they are very picky.

Originally Posted by RostyC

What's the reason for doing this venture?

Originally Posted by wheelturner

I couldn't tell whether they will accept us or not, but my driver does have very good work history with only three companies over 25 years, with no accidents or tickets. Also, he has driven just about anything with wheels, and just about any load there is. The only reason he's not working with someone right now is because his father which is 94 yrs old needed help about 18 months ago, and his company he was driving for was in process of being sold to westco dist. He figure it might be time for change as well. So he hung it up to help out. But now is ready for one last go. He's a easy going common sense kinda guy with smarts in trucking. I actually got about 5 drivers lined up for a trucks, that are close friends of mine that I could truck with a 100k truck like it there own.

It is not always good to have friends work for you. Sometimes it works out well, other times it can be a major problem. You should have a contingency plan.


I'm working with Terry Briggs recruiter for LS (RANGER), and a couple of leased on drivers and brokers for LS, of which I'm using for references and advise.

Landstar did use an outside contractor to check out drivers. It can take several weeks to get through their process. I have a friend who wanted to lease to them and he gave up after 6 weeks and went with another company. I don't see why it should take them so long to check out drivers, but that is the way they operate. I would not make any plans based upon leasing to them without having an alternate plan. If your driver quits, you will need to go through the same process again with Landstar. During that time your truck will be sitting unless you plan on driving it yourself.


The one thing I keep hearing from the drivers is don't pull Van, it don't pay ****, and know what your truck cost you per mile.

I got to ask you though , what is your average worker comp insurance fee ? My quote for cpp was 198.00 month, and truck insurance at 248.00 month.

Rates for workers comp will vary from state to state.

And also taxes per quarter on average ?

I assume you are talking about IFTA? If so, I pay about $35-55/quarter per truck.

I know there deductions stop at certain periods and that will be great when they do go away after about 18 weeks, but its better than me coming up with my plates at 1800 bucks up front , I all ready have so many other expenses (15k) out of pocket to start. If me and my driver are accepted that would be a great thing knowing that they only accept about 1 out of every 10 applicants.

Being leased on with LS has so many other advantages. Money is guaranteed to be there,being number one.
Save on insurance cost, repair cost and tires at small or large discount, gas program, no cost pm, and being able to see loads before they get kicked down to there broker board, versus me getting my own authority and operating with LS broker services. Where they rip u pretty good.

When I leased to Landstar I found that I could get as good a price from Flying J as I could from some of their fuel stops. They get their deepest fuel discounts from TA, but their pump price is nearly always higher than their competition. You need to check before buying to see if you can get a better price using their fuel program or on your own. As far as I know they only offer fuel discounts on diesel, not gas. Most trucks burn diesel. You keep mentioning gas, but if you plan on buying a class 8 truck you will most likely be buying a diesel powered truck unless you go back to the early 1970's or earlier models. Flying J is not as cheap since Pilot got into the picture. You can get national pricing on tires and if you decide to purchase another truck or trailer you can also get some discounts. One thing that I found when I was leased to them was that I could get a better price from a Great Dane dealer about 100 miles from me than I could get through them in Jacksonville, even after their discount. In fact, I could have saved $500 by dealing with a dealer near me.

There are some of their agents who would rather put a load on an independent than one of their BCO's. Landstar calls their owner operators BCO's (Business capacity owners). You can make more as an independent with your own authority than if you leased to them. At least that is what they tell us. An independent is supposed to get 80% of what the load pays. When you are leased to them you will make about 73% if you have your own trailer. Using one of their trailers will result in a rate of about 65%. I think that they pay a small premium for some specialized equipment.


If I don't get accepted by LS I will try CRST Malone, also have about the same ratios of line haul at 73% for step/flat loads and I heard the new load board is holding it's own with LS's load board.

CRST Malone pays 75%, which is a little more than Landstar pays their owner operators. I also leased to them for about 3 years. They are a good company (or was at the time I leased). They also seem to treat their people better, most likely due to them being a smaller carrier. With Landstar it is either their way or the highway. There is little flexibility with Landstar. In fact, most carriers are fairly rigid in how they do business and treat owner operators.


I haven't done my mpg at 5.5 or 6 yet, as it takes a couple hours to do. But when I get done with it i will post on here. Also, I will increase maintenance to 1k per month and driver pay to 1k per week, just to see what happens based on 2000,2500,3000,3500, and 4000 miles per week.

You should ALWAYS calculate expenses high and revenue low. That is true no matter what type of business you are in. I would use 5 mpg as a basis for fuel consumption. You could very well do better, but it is best to figure on lower mpg when calculating costs. Keep in mind that your driver will most likely be idling for at least 10 hours per day. That will burn up about 10 gallons of fuel and that reduces your mpg. You cannot go by what your truck's computer says. I use odometer readings when I calculate my fuel consumption. By the way, your driver and his driving habits will dictate your fuel consumption and any other single factor.

Also the truck I'm buying has nothing to do with the mechanic I talked to about putting 1k per month away, he was just saying for worse case scenario. This mechanic actually owns a trucking company (quality carriers), repair shop, and a couple things.

Ideally, you should have enough put back to do the most expensive repairs on your truck before starting out. In this business it is usually an over haul. It can cost from about $10,000-18,000 to rebuild most diesel engines. And as I have stated many times, just because a truck is under warranty doesn't mean that it will cover an overhaul or any other major repair. If it doesn't, then you should be prepared to pay the cost out of pocket. In addition, you may also have a wrecker bill and cost of putting your driver in a motel for a few days.

My main thing I have working for me is I don't need the truck to pay my personnel bills (mortgage,car,etc.) All if any profit is going to stay in my business account, and used only on things pertaining to the truck. And possible 2nd truck down payment, or purchase. I would rather keep the money there for peace of mind. You never know whats going to come up or go down.. Thanks again guys for your input, Wheelturner

It is a good thing that you won't need the money from your truck to earn your living. It is difficult to make a profit with a single truck when you don't drive it yourself. Running trucks is time consuming. It takes time to keep them moving with decent paying freight.

firebird and heavy duty are u guys leased on to LS ? If so how long ? Are the loads there ? How is the dispatching starting out ? Do u have to negotiate every load even if your in the plus ? If u were able to have any of these trailers (53' SD steel/wood with container locks for 10k- 50' SD combo w/container locks, weight scale,for 22,5k-48' SD combo for 14k-48' flat for 7k) which would u run with ? from 2002 to 2006 models.

Originally Posted by wheelturner

The money, being number one.
I need to build a business portfolio with up to 2 yrs experience for local dump truck business that I originally was going to start. But, need 2 yrs verifiable business to be eligible for a minority business in county I reside in. A very good friend of mine works for the county economics department where they screen companies to become eligible to bid on county wide hauling for minority owned business. So have upper hand when eligible. I have another friend that is a prime at a county and state level that has to contract out portions of projects for the state and county to a minority owned business in order to be eligible as a prime. A prime is a engineering or construction company that is very large that generally doesn't work on anything short of building new highways, environmental clean up, and basically anything with a lot of money involved that they then bid on against other big construction companies at local and state level, but the catch is that they basically have to if they get the contract have to sub contract out a percentage to minority owned business. My trucking company that I'm starting a stepping stone, to bigger things. I could go and buy a dump truck and beg for work locally but nobody is going to just hire one truck, when they can hire multiple to get the job done on schedule, plus those dump trucks cost just as much as the rigs I'm looking at. I need to play it safe with live load boards where I can actually see the work. After two yrs is up, if trucking company is making profit worth staying in, so be it. I 'll be here to stay, or use my rig for RGN for these construction companies to haul there heavy equipment regionally. Who knows, the only way to find out is to jump in the damn pool and see if ya like it....:lol:

Originally Posted by GMAN

There are always quarries, asphalt plants and contractors you could contact to see if something can be worked out.

Originally Posted by wheelturner

The money, being number one.

Originally Posted by no_worries

You're going to hire a driver and make no allowance in your budget for workman's comp or bennies? Most banks experienced in business lending are going to see that as an omission indicative of unpreparedness. You can talk around the bennies (I know drivers work for peanuts in FL) but no getting around the workman's comp.

When you're going to the bank, you can inflate your numbers. What they're looking for is a reason to accept or deny you. A solid pro forma with numbers that pencil out is what they're looking for. They won't know if those numbers are 10-15% off.