I am looking to find out any info about O/O. I would like to read some good books or get some good advice as to what it takes to make a decent living being an O/O. Is it better to buy a new truck or a used truck do certain ones have different advantages. Is leasing a good idea at all. How do you make money as a O/O or a wildcat driver. Maybe its better to be a company driver, I don't know. Just looking for solid info.....

 

It is usually best to buy used when starting out. I would not recommend leasing a truck at all, especially from a carrier. I would advise you against buying a truck without at least a couple of years driving experience. You should also have a good cash reserve before buying. Owning and operating a truck is expensive. You need to have the resources to make repairs in case of a major breakdown. We have discussed this a number of times. You can probably find out most of what you want to know by doing a search. But, feel free to ask any questions.

 

I know one thing unless you have some money saved up you probably won't get as nice of truck as you have at TMC.

 

I was told by a mentor to have at least 3 months cash reserve stashed away for ALL my bills.

House pmt, Utilities, c/c pmts. food for the family, car pmts, ins etc...
AND truck payments, insurance, etc.

You have to pre-pay quite a lot of items to get your own truck. I came real close to spending the entire 3 month cash account I set up for the trucking venture before I started getting any income!

This was only for the tractor and I leased onto a carrier. I bought the tractor thru a bank, it was in my name, with my own tag. Don't even think of "leasing" a truck thru a carrier. We have gone into detail recently on this site about the pitfalls of going that way.

Also open up another checking account for the trucking business.

 

Ya, tell me about it. I've pretty much used up all my on hand cash with just setting myself up. Picking up the truck and trailer cost me probably $1,500 between the flight, fuel, tolls and food to pick up the truck then another 1,600 mile drive to pick up the trailer. Fixing all the little things add up also to $1,000 or so. Straps, binders, edge protectors and tarps will run me another $2,000. Fill up with fuel, $900. Mattress, sheets, blanket, pillow, comforter, Mr. Coffee, Laptop, Wireless Internet card, printer/scanner, cables, inverter, inverter cable, Efax, loadboard subscriptions, spare oil, headlights, fuses, bulbs, antifreeze, fuel additive, Mr. coffee, storage bins...etc....and those are just some of the things I didn't consider in the beginning but they really add up. I'm pretty much all set to go now but will stay at my regular job until I save some decent money to pay my bills for a few months and to rebuild the engine. I'm thinking $20k. Then I'll rake in hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars......right Gman and Rev?!?!?!?

 

6 month's would be preferable on the bill paying money. As Steve noted, costs mount up quickly. And just wait until you have to buy a set of tires for that truck and trailer. Steve you will go through a lot of tires on that spread axle unless you got a dump valve on it. And yes, Steve, you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars in trucking.......ONE DOLLAR AT A TIME!!! :P :roll:

 

I can tell you from my fathers advice to me was if you can buy a late model used truck or a basic plain new truck you are better off he bought an old ford cabover when he started and had to take many company driver jobs in order to make repairs on the truck he owned and almost finished his o/o career before it started . luckly he made it and has been an o/o for 25 years now and has 3 years to partial retirement