Have been thinking about going owner/driver. I know many will tell me it’s a bad idea, but I’m interested to know if it is a viable idea. I live in Purfleet so was thinking about containers or traction only for un-accompanied trailers from either Purfleet or Tilbury. Any constructive advice would be welcome!
doing the distance, just, but, you would be better off in a paid job if it is paying a reasonable rate
doing the locals is by far the better way, not burning the diesel
Thanks for that, at least it wasn’t the totally negative response I expected. Currently taking home around £450 for Monday to Friday , 3-4 nights out. Could do better I suppose but have been doing this for 18yrs and keep thinking I should try and work for myself. Want to do my CPC anyway. Is lease and full R+M the way to go or buy second hand? Can do maintainance myself as time served mechanic.
You can make good money out of Purfleet, trailers can be better than boxes as the dock gets busy and turnaround is quicker with a drop and swap, but trailers are not without problems.
The only thing is that you will be last in the queue for the better jobs (3/4 locals into East London/Essex) plenty of people have been doing them for a long time, so you’ll struggle to get onto that work.
If you had half a dozen or so motors to put on I would say go for it, you have a little bit more power to get the work you want, but as a one man band, I’d give it a swerve, you’ll make a living, if all goes well, but that’s a big if…
Leasing is not the way to go, you want a cheap LEZ compliant unit, something like a Premium, Stralis or an FM/CF. We all like to think that we’ll have a SupermegatroptrotterXXL dripping in lights and chrome, but being a successful owner driver means thinking like a businessman rather than a lorry driver and a lorry is just a tool, after all you don’t see many chrome plated shovels do you? So you want a reliable tool that is cheap to buy, reliable and cheap to maintain, that improves the chances of success dramatically, all you need then is good paying work 
totally agree with above, its about running a business FIRST then operating a truck second, hard work and 100% commitment to it is the only way you will make it a success with a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure.
After 6 years of trading I decided to give it up. Really, the writting was on the wall when diesel kept going up. My bills as whole kept heading towards the sky too and the problem was, my customers didn’t want to pay the rates anymore. When you have the likes of Stobart, Dhl, Etc Etc doing it for next to nothing you haven’t got a chance. I was putting in stupid hours to keep the company afloat. Never saw a weekend. If I wasn’t working I was in the books. The hassle and unrelenting stress and worry wasn’t crippling.
There is money to be made in haulage but by god you have to sell your soul to get it and when you do earn the money, it won’t be any better then the wage your on now. The difference?. You go home at the weekend worry free. You sleep worry free. If a tyre blows it don’t take with it all your profits. You still get paid.
Sorry to paint such a negative picture but looking back on all the hard work, countless days away from the family and the sacrifices I made was it worth it?..No, it wasn’t. I adore trucks and love driving them but now I drive for somebody else and can finally have a worry free sleep and life. Good luck.
£1.30-£1.40 per mile shag on ro-ro or containers.
Diesel cost is between 60p & 75p per mile so that leaves 65p to 80p per mile (cash money) to your pocket say after diesel.
All well & good if you’re knocking out 400 miles a day, 5 days per week but good luck with that.
Say you do 300 miles a day, 5 days per week. Theres a lot of dicking about on ro-ro & containers. That gives £1200 per week after diesel. Most of the firms you may be on for will probably try & have your pants down at every opportunity as well.
Take out say £400 for unit payment, maintenance & tyres included, £100 to insure it, £50 to park at ops centre at weekend, £100 for parking in week/food/sundries/phone. That leaves what, £550 a week to you for tramping & loads of stress worrying about load or diesel getting knicked that will put you out of business, most insurance is loaded, good luck claiming or getting insured again after a claim.
Granted you’re a business man now, well done!
Keep it in your pants unless you’re getting £2+ per mile.
That’s why you don’t do 400miles a day 
Three or four local jobs that pay the same as the 400miles, but without doing the 400miles is the way to go, you get the same revenue, but keep much more of it in the bank
At 9pm last night i was changing a tire,sometimes it’s just not worth it. Unless you aim to operate more than 6 vehicles in the future i really wouldn’t bother. Im sure that some weeks my wage would be below the average minimum but then maybe next week it’ll be double. Imo unless you have 50k sat in the bank,don’t do it.
newmercman:
That’s why you don’t do 400miles a dayThree or four local jobs that pay the same as the 400miles, but without doing the 400miles is the way to go, you get the same revenue, but keep much more of it in the bank
which is pretty much what i said earlier
OVERLOAD:
After 6 years of trading I decided to give it up. Really, the writting was on the wall when diesel kept going up. My bills as whole kept heading towards the sky too and the problem was, my customers didn’t want to pay the rates anymore. When you have the likes of Stobart, Dhl, Etc Etc doing it for next to nothing you haven’t got a chance. I was putting in stupid hours to keep the company afloat. Never saw a weekend. If I wasn’t working I was in the books. The hassle and unrelenting stress and worry wasn’t crippling.There is money to be made in haulage but by god you have to sell your soul to get it and when you do earn the money, it won’t be any better then the wage your on now. The difference?. You go home at the weekend worry free. You sleep worry free. If a tyre blows it don’t take with it all your profits. You still get paid.
Sorry to paint such a negative picture but looking back on all the hard work, countless days away from the family and the sacrifices I made was it worth it?..No, it wasn’t. I adore trucks and love driving them but now I drive for somebody else and can finally have a worry free sleep and life. Good luck.
Well said , this is all true…So unless you can pull in best part of £3k a week for some sensible miles DONT do it, and if you can get that much Money please buy me a Lottery ticket .
rumours abound with comments like " look at what dear Mr Nobby D is paying his new staff…1400 euros per month and all new vehicles licensed in Rumania/ Poland…It drives the price down for all "
Those rumours are probably true. Do the Maths and work out running cost per mile that you have to compete for , The numbers will terrify you .
Stay working for someone who is established and treats you right, and treat them right in return…Life will be a lot better.
Thank you 3 wheeler. Don’t want to pee on anybodies parade, but just saying it how I found it. And when I hear about rumours like you said regarding Mr Norbets I just can’t believe anybody can make any GOOD money out of it. And don’t even get me started on Backload rates 
The hassle to get these tipped and then get back to your regular customer was like juggling hot coal. Your going to get burnt no matter how hard you try. And the rate?..I had to remind the customer I was running a truck not a transit van!.
Haven’t heard from rgt1973. Whats your thoughts?.
Thanks for all the comments. Have to be honest, I didn’t realise things were that bad! Certainly makes it look like I’ll stay an employee rather than become an emlpoyer!! With rates like that it’s a wonder anyone can make a profit! Good luck to all of you who are doing it!
rgt1973:
Thanks for all the comments. Have to be honest, I didn’t realise things were that bad! Certainly makes it look like I’ll stay an employee rather than become an emlpoyer!! With rates like that it’s a wonder anyone can make a profit! Good luck to all of you who are doing it!
Its a sad world, I would love us all to be hard working self employed and earning the right money for a days work…But Alas its a dream, and the reality of the poor sods who started like me is now more of a nightmare.
Off the top of my head and just in my 9 year odd experience id say 5% of guys who start on ro-ro or container work make it in to the £2+ per mile club.
the trouble with working on container transport is the payment terms tend to be very good - I get week one in week three, brilliant you might think, but no, 12 years ago when I set out as a subby for james Kemble the payment terms were 30 days after month end, which I have found to be the most common, so it was easy to pull for various different firms doing various different sorts of work and your cash flow was fairly consistant, then I went onto poultry transport and they wanted to pay me week one in week four, I resisted the temptation, but a run of bad look saw me take the offer, next thing, work dried up, no money left in the bank - now what do you do - you cant afford to fund 30 days payment terms to get your self on slightly - and I mean slightly better rated jobs, so you have to go where you can afford, so i’m back on the boxes, not earning bad money to be fair but theres never owt left at the end of the month - which i’m trying to suss out why, but while there’s nowt left I cant bank any to get onto some better paying stuff again 
two of my mates have the right idea, get a curtainside and stay loaded, they are making good money - but they have to wait for it… 60 days after month end in some cases! that a lot of diesel etc to shell out, which is something you must consider.
we have a subbie in our yard with 2 units on pulls boxes the second one he pulls his own walking floor trailers and subs for a firm everytime i speak to him he says he is mowed out with work and is earning well on the floors however this sometimes only compensates for what the box unit doesnt earn as box work is spits n spats
i dont know the full ins n outs but maybe subbing for a walking floor firm is the way to go as i can see this side of the industry only getting bigger and bigger
Read a few similar post and just wondering why most of owner drivers are moaning about rates etc?
My mate work for a small firm for the last 5 years. The firm is subcontracting loads; containers, curtainsides… I guess whatever they can get. And growing up. Last two years they bought 5 brand new trucks. (2 fh & 3 renaults) Able to pay average wage to drivers and stay in profit.
I know a few other small 5-10 trucks firms who are employ drivers to work for them while do advertise on backload websites and still making profit.
In some posts owner driver claim that he pocket 500 or so a week of hard work, driving lorry him self. Doesn’t make a sense to me at the moment.
Its not the poor rates that finishes off new start owner drivers, its the £1200 a month finance for a fancy new truck that does it
As this is what shuttlespanker does. With his business I’d get him on pm as he knows what he’s talking about