STEVE OWEN:
thought i would add my two penneth as i have not been on for a while, what bob and mark say is good advice as for bt well !!! i too had trucks in the uk and in the 5 plus yrs over here for the same employer have had many chances of being o/o and being in the position at work where i have a decision in what trucks we get i know what truck to have to suit what type of work, the only reason i have not is becuase i have a good position at work and i like to be at home, but if i wanted to be on the road i could be an owner as soon as next week and would be. things here are so much simpler than in the uk, for instance a young guy at our place who is now 21 owns a 2008 379 pete ( he was 20 when he got the truck ) i myself would go for an older truck.
We have the chance to be O/O’s on this firm if we want, Thats how Longwayround (Rich) did it, I cant see the point in doing it in my position As it stands now I live 250 miles north of where I am based, I bring home a Ben & Jerry’s load every friday for either Monday or very late sunday night. When B&J close for a week at a time and there is no load to bring i just do something erly friday and come home empty at the company expense, then return to NYC the following monday. Being an O/O would mean having to pay for that travelling myself, tolls and fuel.
rich seems to work every hour he has available, weekends and all.
We spoke about this, as I recall. Geographically, you are at a disadvantage where you are. You pointed it out when you said about the job you have now. Also, O/O tankers are very expensive to operate. I do think that we have an advantage simply because we are right in the centre of the continent.
I think it will be ok when I do go for it. If I had doubts then I would be hesitant.
bob you make a good point as the location here is perfect, good luck if you do go for it, and if you are looking for a pete let me know as i usually know of some good ones, plus i know the top guys at peterbilt wpg very well. if you are looking soon i can get a better deal than most on those ex trappers 379’s in there.
Thanks, Steve. Will probably go for the 379 I am driving for simplicity sake, and because I have been driving it for a year and it is a good motor. Ex Buhler so it has all the goodies, too. I will go for it if I get the green light from KSW. Seems a reasonable enough step to me.
It’s funny, though, as people said I was mad to buy my own over in the UK, then they said I was insane to come out here. It all seems to work out, doesn’t it?
Well best of luck to you Bob, from the sound of things what have you got to lose ! finnish on a Friday as an employee and start on Monday as O/D, same Truck, same work, if it does not work out what’s the worst that can happen !!! go back to being an employee, hopefully in the same Truck, So go for it, and once again the best of Luck to you and once again thank you to All for the advice.
Ho !! one last question, on average how much did it cost you to set-up in Canada i.e. Licences/Airfares/House etc etc
£5k-£7.5, £10k-£15k ?
It depends how you do it. If you want new stuff then it will be expensive, and the sky is the limit. When we arrived here, we had about $15000 canadian. Although I had spent about $3k or $4k before that on a car and sundries. The $15k went on the downpayment for the house. We did bring all our furniture and belongings out in a container which cost about $10k but saved us a lot of money buying things. The flights were not at all cheap, but I had mine refunded under HRSDC so only had to pay for the wife and boy to get here.
All in, I guess it was about $30k Canadian to get us in the house here. But that was over 3 months and got us started out well enough. I got my training and licence subbed by the company which saved me some money.
bobthedog:
It’s funny, though, as people said I was mad to buy my own over in the UK, then they said I was insane to come out here. It all seems to work out, doesn’t it?
In hindsight would you not say you were wrong to go OD in England though
You said before in posts that you had to work 7 days/week to make it pay over those years and it was extremely stressful.
Plus was it all worth it to be left with £7k after settling all the bills to bring out to Canada
No, I had a good time as O/D and did well out of it. My only mistake was to allow it to become an obsession and to take over my life, that and putting the other 2 on the road. I shluld have stuck with one and left well alone because the way I worked with the one truck was a good living.
Rob I agree with staying at one, when I put more on the road is when my problems started, I had good motors, good work, good money & 10 really good reliable drivers, I only ever had one row with a driver, I had no lorry problems, the job run itself, but as easy as it was there was always something that needed doing, I never had any time for myself, I ended up hating it, I made good money, but at what cost? Being a simple O/O is the way to go, it gives a good balance, a bit more money for a bit more work.
My uncle is buying his company truck, he’s got the same as me, or the other way around as he was here first, anyway he’s doing very well at it, he’s driving the same truck, doing the same work, the only thing different is his bank balance & that he does his own maintainance, but that’s no problem, he now has an excuse to go out & get covered in grease & take stuff apart, how good is that
I drove in the fuel industry in Calgary ALberta for many years.It seemed whenever an owner operator hired a driver it always ended badly.This is my experience based on several companies.From the employee standpoint there was always the danger of the o/o going bust and not being able or willing to pay wages.Fuel hauling does nt seem the business to get in the insurance deductible is too high not only for road accidents but for mixes and product spills as well also qualified drivers are hard to find as well (terminal loading qualifications).
I turned 2 jobs down working for O/Os, but Dave and Phil both work for different O/Os and are doing well out of them. So I see where you are coming from.
That said, it would not stop me from buying my truck. I would stick with one and it will be dedicated to the firm. That means that they will only make money if I do. 70% of this fleet is O/O anyway, so it makes more sense. Also, the dispatchers like the way I work so they keep me busy- busier than most, I was told on Friday- because I take what there is and get it done as fast as possible. That is why I was given this trip (3130 miles out with 6 drops and a load weighing 3000 lbs).
Buying the truck will not change that, unless it makes me hungrier to do well. I work hard, have a decent knowledge of diesels and other mechanical workings and am unafraid to get dirty.
If you can work well and are able to look after things properly then there is no reason to stay company if buying the truck is what you want.
Just wondered if there are any English Owner Drivers in Canada, or is it very hard to start up as an Owner Driver and get work,
because at the moment I’m running 5 trucks doing UK/European and it’s a waste of time and over the last couple of years, I keep
looking on the ex-pat site and the one’s that have stayed, seem to have a good standard of living, So, depending on the replies,
it might be time to make a move from the Uk.
Yes i have a Volvo vnl 780 with a D13 and an Ishift.
As you already have a business it might be better to come over on points and have your PR right away then you can do whatever you want,
instead of coming over as a driver.
brianm:
Yes i have a Volvo vnl 780 with a D13 and an Ishift.
As you already have a business it might be better to come over on points and have your PR right away then you can do whatever you want,
instead of coming over as a driver.
Excuse me if I am sounding rather confused now but how will being an OO in UK allow Tony JJSL to emigrate to Canada under the points system
More to the point, and this is no reflection on anyone, but the points system is a difficult and convoluted trail, and it takes a long time usually. It is also very difficult to attain the necessary points, too. You need a fair amount of money to go down that road as well. Now I think of it, I am not entirely sure they still do it that way.
The route we have used is faster, cheaper and actually less hassle than most because we sort of earn our right to stay. We can’t even begin to apply to immigration for 6 months but our paperwork is often looked at sooner than cold applications.
I went the OO route 3 years ago.I leased a truck from my company. Remarkably it has so far worked out well,though this past year has been a slog for several reasons.The economy and electronic logs (no more running illegal) have put a damper on large pay cheques for now, I am still far better off than as a company driver,though as Pat pointed out,I do work hard.
I have 12months to go until the lease is complete,though I can buy the truck anytime if I want too.As Newmerc pointed out,fuel mileage is everything,this is a nickle and dime business after all. My truck is a 04 Freightliner with a mercedes engine,I get 7.5mpg.Only had one mechanical failure,the alternator gave up the ghost and I had to get a service truck out to fix it at a rest area.Everything else has been done on a schedule.The steering and front axle take alot of abuse on New York roads.Had the king pins done ,steering box and pitman arm replaced,but thats it for big stuff.Not too bad for 525,000 miles of use.Small stuff I fix myself.
There are many advantages to leasing onto a large carrier.They take care of all the hassles of compliance,finding loads,collecting payments and supplying trailers.I think for me to go full blown OO with operating authority is not out of the question but I think I will wait until my 2 children have left school and started work.I still need the financial safety net that a big company can provide, and I definitely need the tax brakes the IRS provides for self employed people,so no point going back to being a company driver
Good to see you back, Rich. Not seen you for ages on here. The slog you mentioned is where many fall on their butts simply because they can’t handle it. if you can take a year like this past one then you can take anything.
Just as an afterthought on an earlier post, as far as I know, you cannot be O/O on a TWP.
As it stands now I live 250 miles north of where I am based, I bring home a Ben & Jerry’s load every friday for either Monday or very late sunday night. When B&J close for a week at a time and there is no load to bring i just do something erly friday and come home empty at the company expense, then return to NYC the following monday. Being an O/O would mean having to pay for that travelling myself, tolls and fuel.
