Hi
Im a newbie, Thinking about purchasing a couple of 8m sleeper cabs to rent to local companies in north east.
If unfortunately it does end up quiet in local area then least theres an opportunity to work in other parts of country.
Weve spoken to potential users that are busy and if we had them now would hire them for min 3 month trial
Just looking for some sort of insight as this is a completely new field to me? Would appreciate any help that you can offer
Thanks for reading
8 metre sleeper cab,that’s some size of cab the only person I can think to help you would be BIG VERN always complaining his feet stick out the bottom of the bunk.
Close your cheque book. If you’re serious, read the entire back catalogue of posts on this forum. Then rethink it. 
danste80:
Hi
Im a newbie, Thinking about purchasing a couple of 8m sleeper cabs to rent to local companies in north east.
If unfortunately it does end up quiet in local area then least theres an opportunity to work in other parts of country.
Weve spoken to potential users that are busy and if we had them now would hire them for min 3 month trial
Just looking for some sort of insight as this is a completely new field to me? Would appreciate any help that you can offer
Thanks for reading
Have you ever tried Brain surgery …No, why ? Because you have no knowledge experience or qualifications.
So why the Hell are you thinking of doing this ?
A fool and his money are easy parted.
I gave up after 20yrs of trying because it does not work in this game unless you have very very deep pockets and hundreds of wagons…hauliers go bust every day .
Put the money in the bank and take the interest…however small it will be profit.
No havent tried brain surgery haha
I am not going into this alone i would be with a partner who has been hiring mixers for years until recently when he sold them for a difference business interest that eventually didnt happen
Hence he has the contacts that we need, just wanted to get other people opinion, if people are busy etc
Thanks
danste80:
No havent tried brain surgery haha
I am not going into this alone i would be with a partner who has been hiring mixers for years until recently when he sold them for a difference business interest that eventually didnt happen
Hence he has the contacts that we need, just wanted to get other people opinion, if people are busy etc
Thanks
You are mad, the industry is in huge turmoil, Cabotage from our sandal wearing friends is soon going to be a huge problem, OD’s are working for fuel money and just enough to eat on ridiculous rates, your customer base is knackered , the likes of Nobby D and Eddie dont need you …its LUNACY. You can rent in Man unit with servicing for £300 a week from a huge concern if you need one…how are you going to make it work with a decent profit, nothing adds up I promise…
Ask nearly any OD on here about the state of the industry from their prospective. If your business partner does not know this he is mad too.
could you tell me what sort of rates you or people you kmow are charging? thanks
danste80:
could you tell me what sort of rates you or people you kmow are charging? thanks
Surely yours business partner with all the contacts will have this info 
yes but i like to do my own research and thought i could gdt some help here
danste80:
could you tell me what sort of rates you or people you kmow are charging? thanks
“Charging” …joke, Told what you are getting in 60 days if lucky more like.
Last week I was talking to two OD’ s who were working for £1.42 per mile with 6x2 units and their own flat trailers behind. That after fuel leaves you 67p per mle…
Insurance, tyres, maintenance, depreciation ■■?
The job is knackered and if your business partner got out of hiring mixer trucks ask him why ? And what fell through, somethimg haulage orientated ? I wonder why.
Go buy cheap houses and rent them, house prices are rising now, in three years you will be quids in . And they dont depreciate like trucks.
hi thanks for response weve spoke to some companys that would use us at a rate of £400 a day? what are yoiur thoughts on this we are looking to start buying 2 second hand units for about 30-35k each
no business wasnt haulage related and i know why, genuine issue and the seller changed goal posts to be fair
thanks for help do appreciate it
As for the property i already have rental properties and am currently buying more as the returns are good
Just looking to try something new and different
if they put you on big miles and full weight work you could put £400 in diesel per day!
Thanks moose appreciate that, is this industry really getting that desperate where peoplle asre basically working for nothing then?
i caught a driver that woorks for a local company 8 mixers he was saying they were very busy and he guessed by owners house and car that he was doing well? is this an isol;lated case or one very lucky business
thanks for your response
some folk are doing well but you have to remember that some folk “have been in the game a long time”
some of the larger outfits work on having the volume of work, rather than top notch rates, also some of the larger hauliers make extra money by running workshops servicing 3rd party hauliers, o/d’s trucks, they may also offer parking, trailer rent, fuel etc!
To make any money you will need far more than £400 per day for an artic, unless you are using v little fuel, at this time there are many running around for £1.50 per mile and less
if you work on 7.5 to 8 to the gallon @ todays price of £1.17 ppl you wont be far out, on the optimistic side if owt
many will say their fuel is 9/10 /11 to the gallon, I have never seen that in my line of work, my Volvo that I used to run all day every day was mid seven’s, now I only use the truck when needed and as a rule it only does one load per day on a flat trailer the vehicle average is up around 8.3 to the gallon!
when I was sat on the edge of the seat all day relying on it to earn a living I would have needed to be going downhill empty with the wind behind me to get near the 8.3 mpg!
moose
The very fact that your on here asking the question is already ringing warning bells, If you want to get into any kind of business what you really need to to is a course in business management. Not knowing the very basics or knowing how to find out about them worrying. If you want to know how much the opposition are charging, just phone them and ask.
Most companies running mixers get there profit from the sale of the cement, the trucks are only complementary to the customer. And as most of them found out that part of their business was so unprofitable they farmed it out to another mug.
When I was doing OD work there weren’t the big companies around that there are now, but even then mileage per ton rate was marginal and no one was on good money, I needed around 500 quid a week profit over costs just to stay in front. That was running one truck, I was working upwards of 80 hours a week, and when not in the truck I was under it or doing books.
Enter one of the big companies who were working on a profit of 8 quid per truck per week throwing in warehousing logistics to the deal. Go and do the figures, they could work like this, I know I couldn’t because after a while that’s about what I was making as well.
As for your mate if he had trucks and he sold them, I doubt it was because he was making to much money.
If you want to own a truck, go buy an old FH, Big Scania what ever you like, stick a trailer on the back. Use it as a toy and drive around in it on your days of, take it to shows if your that way inclined. At least that way you won’t be under the illusion that you’ll ever make any money.
As it has be been mentioned farther up this thread, there are hundreds of threads on here all saying pretty much the same thing.
General consensus DON"T DO IT.
It’s not that we don’t want you getting a slice of our pie. It’s the fact that there’s very little pie left, and most of it went of a long time ago. Yes you might get a few good crumbs here and there, but as soon as you do the big boys will be in there and have them of you.
If you know your business then Keep buying houses, the margins might be slim at the moment, but at least there are some margins and you’ll have a house to sell at the end.
Jeff…
Can I just clear something up here…are you saying you and your friend intend to buy two second hand trucks for £30K each and then ask companies if they will rent them of you for up to £400 per day?. Are you intending to go against Dawsons, Scania Rental, BSR and Salfords?.
If you are and maybe I am getting the wrong end of the stick here, but if you are going to rent these trucks out you won’t get £400 PER DAY. I was with Scania rental about three years ago and for a week it was £430. This included servicing, road tax, tyres etc and this was for a up to date Scania toplinner R470.
Or…are you saying your going to buy two trucks and hope to find work and charge £400 per day or shift?.
Overload.
danste80:
No havent tried brain surgery haha
I am not going into this alone i would be with a partner who has been hiring mixers for years until recently when he sold them for a difference business interest that eventually didnt happen
Hence he has the contacts that we need, just wanted to get other people opinion, if people are busy etc
Thanks
Firstly I’m not an o/d but thought I’d put my thoughts in. Is this whole idea mainly your partners or yours?. I say this because if he has run mixers in the past and obviously had a part in the transport industry and was finding it a good money maker he wouldn’t of wanted to get out off it and try something else. If its a brain scheme off his then maybe your being brought in to share the loses if it all went belly up. I know plenty off o/d and unless your already established or have a dozen wagons on the go I think it’s probably one off the riskiest things to take a punt on right now. I did briefly consider buying my own and trying but after working out the repayments, fuel,wear and tear etc i fail to see how I would earn what I’m earning paye. If you have a few properties let them make the money, I’m looking at using my savings to buy something bigger to live in and keep my place for rent. I think I’d be a hell off alot better investing that way then spending my money on trying to start my own business during this current Climate. If your business would be buying a truck and renting it on for £400 a day I think we’d all be doing it, but when you can rent a unit from a main dealer for £450 a week I fail to see where your market place would be. Buying second hand to your more than likely to eat into any profit with more repair and maintenance cost. Like I said if it was all to easy your partner wouldn’t off wanted to get out off it before. Well there’s my two pence worth good luck if you go ahead with it hope all works out.
danste80:
hi thanks for response weve spoke to some companys that would use us at a rate of £400 a day? what are yoiur thoughts on this we are looking to start buying 2 second hand units for about 30-35k each
My thoughts are that you’ll only make any money at £400/day if you’re doing a low number of lightly loaded miles and they’re supplying the trailers. For example if they only wanted a 10h shift out of you and you ended up doing 400km at 10mpg you would be spending about £130 on diesel and £100 on wages leaving £170 for everything else. You would have half a chance of making it work at that.
The more likely scenario however is that for that you have to do 500km at 8mpg in a 15h shift. You’ll be spending over £200 on diesel and you’ll need at least £150 to pay for your driver which only leaves £50 per day for everything else, including finance, insurance, tyres, servicing, depreciation, breakdowns and of course profit. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that £50 isn’t enough to cover that lot.
Paul
Hi
Sorry not sure what you mean about them supplying trailers? I have looked into this further now and have spoke to some potential customers we are looking at a rate of about £425 a day plus travel but 99% of loads are local as they have other depots and you wouldnt drive very far for loads approx 10/20 miles per load. I have spoke to a business where we can store them which is only 5 miles away to keep fuel costs to a minimum. We have suggested if they are all local its 10hr shift for 425 but if there is travel its at about 40/hr which would cover fuel costs. Some jobs do run over and they are willing to pay overtime rates
If theres any owner drives out there reading this sure that these rates seem fair and we know we may have to reduce them slightly but are talking currently bout trial 3 month contracts extended depending on how we perform.
They arent many sleeper cabs about this is what we are being told so may be a bonus that if required we can travel obviously at an additional cost to customer
Being in business I know the Staff are key and will ensure that we have the right people if we havent we wont bother its that simple
Let me know your thoughts thanks