I thought I would post an update on my experience as an owner operator. I am not, but my father decided to go to truck driving school in 2008 while in his late 50's. I came to this forum in 2008 for advice, but was generally the idea was frowned on and was told he would fail. He went to a local truck driving school and paid his own way I think it was a couple of thousand. He passed his test and bought a nice used international truck and a flat bed trailer. He ran under his own authority. It is not rocket science. Of course there have been break downs and repairs over the years. He no longer uses a factoring service to process the payments since 2009, he receives them direct, which take a little longer. He now has an older paid for Volvo truck. When he first started he never used prepass. Now that he uses prepass he is inspected less and his driving/infraction record has improved greatly. He has a load planner who is able to get him loads so he is home multiple nights per week. The truck driving worked out great for him.

If anyone is thinking of becoming an owner operator don't let people on this forum poo poo your idea. Signing on with a company and agreeing to pay them a high fee for training and to later drive for a wage that is lower than minimum is ridiculous. If you can afford a truck and trailer and a few months of expenses you can be an owner operator. Expenses are high with initial startup costs, equipment, repairs, insurance, taxes, and fees. However, the rewards can be great. I thought about getting a truck and my own authority, but decided to go in a different direction.

 

Thanks for the update, charged. I am glad that your dad is doing well.

 

Hey Charged...I remember you. I was actually thinking if you the other day because I keep running into more people that have autoshift and your father had an autoshift. Glad things are going good.

 

The international 9400i had the eaton auto shift and he never had a problem. When he got the Volvo last year it also had an eaton auto shift. No problems with it either. He has been very happy with auto shift.