I understand with one of my previous asks that people my not want to divulge info on what they get or ask for when taking on or bidding for jobs. Could then, any kind sole out there have a look at these numbers and maybe give an informed opinion on likelihood of them being realistic or excepted.
Say my daily standing costs are £302. This being inclusive of the following: unit hire
trailer hire
OP yard
tyres
insurance
VED
driver salary.
Then I took a job which was 440 mls round trip but only charged mls one way of £2.29 which would equate as:
St cost: £302
Fuel: 220mls / 8mpg @ £5 pg: £137
profit marg + 15%: =£505 give or take a £
I then would hopefully get a back load job to cover return costs. Would the above milage quote be seen as reasonable or, have I overlooked something? Cheers all for reading at least.
Have you even DRIVEN a bloody artic yet 
If “no”,
go and drive one for 2/3yrs then come back and post all those questions as they just MIGHT be useful then 
Well as I thought!
No, big truck I have not driven an artic yet. But thank you for your informed opinion all the same.
Big Truck:
Have you even DRIVEN a bloody artic yetIf “no”,
go and drive one for 2/3yrs then come back and post all those questions as they just MIGHT be useful then
It may be blunt but correct !
I, like you did the numbers over and over again but having invested money it was a sharp lesson to learn what the business was really about when I started driving. The theory doesn’t match spreadsheet haulage I am afraid.
One quick comment would be I think 15% margin may be wishful thinking unless you have a specialism. I work on 35% but it’s very specialised work and not standard kit and it’s taken me a number of years to get to that point. I am too polite to ask friends who do general haulage what their margin is like but suspect they don’t start with a figure like that before being beaten down!
Kitozz1 I’ve read many of your posts and looking at the questions you ask you really haven’t got much idea how the haulage industry works and no amount of questions on here will make up for actually getting into the industry as an employee first for a few years.
I think you should think of running a your own haulage company as a long term plan, maybe 5 years or so, first do a bit of driving and then try and get into the transport office. That way you’ll see how it works and have made a few contacts, and have an idea which people to haul for and which to avoid.
Forget all the costings you qouted , i work to one set of maths
Per day i aim to make after fuel £300 , if i do this then everythings paid , i make a profit and most importantly her indoors is happy , i.ve stuck to this reasoning since i started 15 yrs ago and it hasnt done me wrong yet , somedays i make £400-450 after fuel but as long as i do the 300 then i know i can sleep
kitozz1:
I understand with one of my previous asks that people my not want to divulge info on what they get or ask for when taking on or bidding for jobs. Could then, any kind sole out there have a look at these numbers and maybe give an informed opinion on likelihood of them being realistic or excepted.
Say my daily standing costs are £302. This being inclusive of the following: unit hire
trailer hire
OP yard
tyres
insurancedriver salary.
Then I took a job which was 440 mls round trip but only charged mls one way of £2.29 which would equate as:
St cost: £302
Fuel: 220mls / 8mpg @ £5 pg: £137
profit marg + 15%: =£505 give or take a £
I then would hopefully get a back load job to cover return costs. Would the above milage quote be seen as reasonable or, have I overlooked something? Cheers all for reading at least.
Out of interest what have you put for this figure as when i started i didnt take a wage as such for the first year, do you want to be an owner driver because you have a passion or you wanting to get into haulage because you think it would be a profitable business?
I personally think you need a bit of diesel in your veins to survive the hardship the first 12 months usually brings
Caversdad thanks. I take all the pickings and scraps from the bones of the replies on here that I can and do take it all on board. The last 2 replies say much so thanks you both. Maybe then trying to work to specific costings seems a bit classroom. The 15% I should forget! The £300 costings would see me right but does it normally work that you initially put a price forwards for fuel on a one way bases and then let them come back with an offer to haul both ways? Or always put in one way and expect to have to find work for run home yourself? Or is it the norm that you just offer your services and they give you a price and then discuss any movement? Cheers again.
The passion to do this is most definitely there though I also want to make it pay some at least yes. I am neither greedy nor do I think this line of work is going to make me rich either. What I do want from it though is for it to allow me to work for myself and be my own boss to a degree anyhow. The questions I have posted on here I am fully aware of showing me as green yes. Without doubt I am but all is being taken in and you have to start somewhere and I have always hit the ground running where possible. If I can earn after tax and all other paid £1800 per month then I will give it the best crack I can.cheers.
My work is all for one company and is priced for the round trip, all rates are already agreed and include a fuel surcharge , as most of my work is to the north of Scotland backloads are extremely rare, if i get a backload its a bonus but mostly i dont bother and just come back for the next one, the simplest way to get into running your own truck is by subcontracting to a large haulage company pulling there own trailers, find one local to you and you can cut your overheads right down ( free parking to start with, cheaper maintenance could be on offer etc etc) you will make a living doing this but wont get rich, unless you have a contact who can give you specialist work you are going to have to start at the bottom as a subby with the rates being given to you and you choosing wether to take them or not
Thank you caversdad, well received .
kitozz1:
Well as I thought!
No, big truck I have not driven an artic yet. But thank you for your informed opinion all the same.
But there is the jist of the problem before you even get into the O/D lark:
You’d don’t even know if you’ll “like/enjoy” driving a truck for a living nevermind running it
as a business!!!
33 yrs working for the Queen! I have driven enough to know what I will and will not like. Cheers
kitozz1:
33 yrs working for the Queen! I have driven enough to know what I will and will not like. Cheers
Don’t be foolish and blow your pension comutation on O/D trucking then!!![emoji12]
No intention of that Big truck. That’s gone on house. There is the contract hire route you know. Many are doing it that way.
Honestly Kitozz, I’m an OD myself and I find it challenging even after 25+ years of being an employed driver, with all of the contacts I have built up over that time. Get a few years under your belt as an employed driver before you even think about putting a truck on the road.
kitozz1:
No intention of that Big truck. That’s gone on house. There is the contract hire route you know. Many are doing it that way.
Oh I know the contract hire route ok,
you just might find that slightly difficult to achieve being a “completely” new start!!!
Just remember if it all goes “■■■■ up” as a sole trader you could lose your house too!!!
What are your reasons for not driving direct/agency on PAYE/Ltd etc 1st??
I did abit of O/D work for 4yrs and did ok (In the archives on here) but wouldn’t go back to it in a million yrs unless rates went up by 50%!!!
Just not worth the hassle/stress.
I will shortly (I think) on the advice of my accountant be going Ltd. This I believe should secure any problems with loosing personal assets. The posts on here and other places are all intended as research with a view to theory. I know at some stage I will be going in a practical direction, which way ,I’m still not sure of. Agency work at the moment for me, and they do for some reason prefer people to be Ltd ! Spoke at length with a couple of Contract hire people, Merc and Volvo and they do not seem anti a new starter at all. Packages sound doable too. I suppose until you get your fingers burnt for yourself then you don’t really know. I still haven’t come up against that closed door that tells me no, you cant do this mate.
Right then kitozz, from the top.
The thing to remember with your standing costs, they are an art, as opposed to a definite structure. Generally, I think your in the right field. If your renting a truck, renting a yard, renting a trailer, hiring a driver(whether it’s you or someone else) then £1500 is a very very realistic.but as chaversdad said, if your the driver, as with any new start ups, your more likely to default most of your wages for the good of what your trying to achieve in the long run. In my breakdown, tyres wouldn’t be in these costs, if your not rolling, then you aren’t using any.
I think it would be much better to comment on your costs than any negative Norris’s saying your a mug, u won’t make any money, u need this u need that… No offence ,but you may be better off, if he gives the reasons he fell on his ar5e rather than being defeatist.
1 thing for me is that your quoting your fuel including vat, whereas I suspect your doing your costs without? Is that correct? For me that’s a mistake.
The next thing for me is that your looking at doing 220 miles one way, then get a reload to come back to base, is that about right? I would say you’d be very lucky to get that miles done in a day. I mostly go about 150 miles ish from base. I’m at Nottingham, so for me, I would be going as far as perhaps Bristol, reading or dartford if going south, or Newcastle or Lancaster if going north, most of those would take 3.5-4 hours driving time. And then your wanting to reload to come back Meaning it can’t be too far off the beaten track at either collection or drop off from your base.
For me, unless your nighting out, those miles on that money won’t work for you.
Might be worth clarifying if your £2.29 is plus vat also.
I think your next move is def to go limited, and then you have options of satisfying company’s or agency whichever you prefer, but more importantly, you could apply for your ops licence , and get your self in a position to talk with said companies. They won’t show interest without a ops licence to even send you the account application forms.
Hi Matt and thanks again for your lengthy reply. The bit about the tyres not being in your figures! bit lost as to what you mean? Also, when I do my workings, as far as I know any how, I am working on say £5.00 per gal fuel in either costing’s. I must admit that I struggled with this part of the CPC mgrs exam (VAT, tax) and was thankful that there were no questions on it in the exam otherwise I don’t think I would have that pass cert’. What am I getting wrong there with regards to fuel pricing? Am I way off course with expecting to have some kind of salary from start up? I know that when first starting up and running that you need to put 100+% in to make it a Gower. I think in my costing’s and from what people have said, that I was a bit ambitious with the 15% profit margin expectation but am I over expecting it to give me at least £1800 per month clear? Also, I’m just not sure with the one way mileage quote thing. The thing is basically, I’m just not sure in general how or in what way companies would expect an enquiry with regards hauling for them should be. would It be a one way pence per mile quote or are they more likely to give a price per job figure? Sorry Matt if I seem to be going over old ground. Cheers