Hi.
I’m rather new driver and at the moment want to work for company but at the back of my head is an idea of buying my own truck and run my own company.
Is it a good idea this days ? How much can I make per mile? What truck to buy ? (rigid or articulated) What type of truck brings best profit and what type of goods is best co carry in terms of profit ■■
I’d suggest you get a few years under your belt as an employed driver before you even think of it. As for what type of truck to buy, you buy whatever truck is best suited to the work you have lined up for it.
This comes up so regularly …just search the older posts.
Personally my opinion you are 30 years to late . The only way to make a million out of trucking nowadays from scratch is to start with two million , it’s a race to the bottom.
You will find out with some experience as Harry says, and even Harry is actually thinking of giving up if you read his posts and he to my mind is one of the few still making a reasonable living .
That is nonsense 3 wheeler I make a very good living and have many close friends doing similarly. I did how ever realise some time ago that I may not make a million although considering I started with next to nowt and borrowed money off my mother I have done alright. There is still a shilling to be made.
I earn a reasonable living at it. I certainly don’t earn a fortune. Enough to make it worth my while.
For me, the huge appeal is being able to come and go as I please, to work when I want to work, and to take as much time off as I want. I visit plenty of places where there is a notice on the notice board telling drivers when they can and cannot take annual leave. A week off in November or February? Fine. A week off in July or August, forget it. My mate had a huge stand-off with his employer when they told him he couldn’t have a week off to go to the Monza Grand Prix, even though he had booked the tickets and ferries, gave them eight months notice and he had never once taken leave during the Summer.
It is true that I am considering packing up, but that is not for financial reasons, more because I would like to devote more time to my narrowboat, which coincidentally is moored in that part of the country where wages for HGV drivers are highest, so I could get by working two or three days a week as an agency trolley dolly.
Certainly if somebody wanted to have a go at running their own truck I wouldn’t try to put them off the idea, you don’t know what you can achieve if you try (and are a bit more motivated than I am 
). Stobart, Irlam, Gregory’s etc etc etc, they all started off with one truck. I would re-iterate though that I think the OP should get a few years under his belt as an employed driver. learning the ropes and making mistakes at somebody else’s expense.
That is a great reply Harry you are much more elleqaint than me, your point on gaining experience on the back of some one else is spot on.
Tarmac duck:
That is nonsense 3 wheeler I make a very good living and have many close friends doing similarly. I did how ever realise some time ago that I may not make a million although considering I started with next to nowt and borrowed money off my mother I have done alright. There is still a shilling to be made.
BUT when did you start ?
Today to start from scratch would be a nightmare …Subbie work is on its knees ( £1.39 a mile loaded was what I was quoted recently ) and finding “new” work will involve undercutting someone else probably . And the bank will not be your best friend so how would you finance it …brokers take a percentage to process your invoices for you.
You are I will bet about 50 or older …
I’m 51 and started in '91. I pretty much grew up in my Dad’s truck - from the age of 3 I was out with him every day possible in the school holidays.
Back in the 60s and in the 90s, subbie work was on its knees and getting a good new customer was hard work then.
Like Harry, I say if you want to give it a go, do so. Just make sure you can make it work and go in with your eyes wide open.
Started in 1994 and yes I am 54. I started with a 6x4 tipper on contract to Tarmac gave me a great start.
With regard to the ltd bit I see as off next yr I’ll be paying 7 percent tax on dividends .
Punchy Dan:
With regard to the ltd bit I see as off next yr I’ll be paying 7 percent tax on dividends .
The first 5k is tax free iirc
A few of pieces of advice I’d give (not that I hold myself up as an authority on running a truck, but this was my way of thinking when I started up and I seem to have been able to muddle along for three years or so).
1). Always leave yourself a way out. So for example, if you buy a second-hand truck privately for £25,000 and six months later you find you are losing money, then you can sell the truck for £22,000. You’ll have paid a couple of grand off of the finance by then, so you could walk away having lost a couple of grand at most. If you buy a brand-new Scania 580 with all the bells and whistles for £108,000 and six months later you find you are losing money, then you are stuck with it. The truck will be worth tens of thousands of pounds less than the outstanding finance. You are trapped.
2). Do not EVER put your family home up as security against a loan on a truck. If you can’t finance it using your own money, or obtain finance which is secured against the vehicle(s) then don’t do it. Full stop. It might be your dream, but it is not the dream of your wife and children, and you have no right to risk their security.
3). In any situation, always ask yourself “what is the worst-case scenario?” and plan for that. Situations rarely go to the “worst-case scenario” but if you have prepared for that, then anything else is a bonus.
4). Haggle for everything. Get three or four fuelcards, and play them off against each other. When a fuelcard company phones to see why you aren’t using them, tell them the best price you have for that week, and invite them to beat it. When the next fuelcard company phones, rinse and repeat. Anything you need from a main dealer, ask for a discount, parts, labour, the lot. It’s amazing how easily you can save hundreds of pounds off of a bill by having the nerve to ask a cheeky question.
Get yourself a reputation for paying bills on time, every time. You will get so much more co-operation from a supplier when they know they won’t have to chase you for months for payment. I get bills marked “terms, 30 days”, and within 10 minutes I have transferred the money into their bank account and emailed them to let them know. They don’t forget that the next time I need them.
When I started, a long standing friend and owner-driver said to me “Some people will support you, and wish you luck, but many more people will be praying that you fail, particularly people who have had a go at it and failed themselves, or are a failure in some other way” and that was exactly what I found, particularly in the early days. Just ignore them.
If you are thinking of “having a go”, but are unsure, always remember that it is the things you thought about doing but bottled out of that you regret in later life, not the things you did do, even if they didn’t work out quite how you planned.
Anyway, that’s quite enough for now, the Gregory’s cheque is here so I’m off to pick up my new Lamborghini.
Excellent post Harry but I note you know the price of a new Scania580,
You send a letter off to Santa you’ve kept quiet!!![emoji6]
Big Truck:
Excellent post Harry but I note you know the price of a new Scania580,
You send a letter off to Santa you’ve kept quiet!!![emoji6]
The bloke who parks next to me in my yard has got one… it is a lovely truck, but the thought of having all that finance hanging over me would just do my head in. Although I’m still unsure of what to do in the longer term, I’m quite happy to carry on with the Magnum for now. I started back from my Summer break on September 7th and since then the only downtime I have is 6 hours when the compressor head gasket failed going up Telegraph Hill and started pressurising the cooling system. Other than that it has run faultlessly, constantly dragging heavy loads over hilly terrain.
I’ve had a few repair and maintenance bills in that time, nearside shackle pins and bushes and new drive axle brake pads was about £800, the compressor ended up at about £1,200 and the annual service plus a few bits 'n bobs was around £800 (all plus VAT). But on the other hand, the finance finished about six months ago so it costs me nothing to own. Peace of mind does mean a lot to me, and if that truck blew up tomorrow, then I could just walk away from it and it wouldn’t owe me a penny.
You’d be amazed how many blokes I’ve known over the years who have bought brand new Volvos and Scanias to pull boxes out of Thamesport or Felixstowe. They are rarely still going a year later, many of them losing their homes in the process. 
You talk plenty of sense Harry Monk, well done,
BTW, are you moored up with the collection of boats beside the M45, I go past them a couple of times a week, and when I see them I always think of you!
[quote=“Toddy2”
BTW, are you moored up with the collection of boats beside the M45, I go past them a couple of times a week, and when I see them I always think of you![/quote]
I am on that stretch of canal (North Oxford Canal) but a bit further to the north west, nearest motorway junction would be J2 of the M6. Off up there on Monday for a few days, can’t wait!
Harry Monk:
Big Truck:
Excellent post Harry but I note you know the price of a new Scania580,
You send a letter off to Santa you’ve kept quiet!!![emoji6]The bloke who parks next to me in my yard has got one… it is a lovely truck, but the thought of having all that finance hanging over me would just do my head in. Although I’m still unsure of what to do in the longer term, I’m quite happy to carry on with the Magnum for now. I started back from my Summer break on September 7th and since then the only downtime I have is 6 hours when the compressor head gasket failed going up Telegraph Hill and started pressurising the cooling system. Other than that it has run faultlessly, constantly dragging heavy loads over hilly terrain.
I’ve had a few repair and maintenance bills in that time, nearside shackle pins and bushes and new drive axle brake pads was about £800, the compressor ended up at about £1,200 and the annual service plus a few bits 'n bobs was around £800 (all plus VAT). But on the other hand, the finance finished about six months ago so it costs me nothing to own. Peace of mind does mean a lot to me, and if that truck blew up tomorrow, then I could just walk away from it and it wouldn’t owe me a penny.
You’d be amazed how many blokes I’ve known over the years who have bought brand new Volvos and Scanias to pull boxes out of Thamesport or Felixstowe. They are rarely still going a year later, many of them losing their homes in the process.
Hard to whack the Magnums,
was chatting to the fella on the boat who drives the white one for Manfreight and she goes well for him.
Canny beat the room in them that’s for sure,
pity the T-series ain’t gonna get the big cab!![emoji26]
It has on the continent which I this Renault are missing a trick but I think there going for fleet sales with the t range
It’s a new model so I suppose they are running flat-out producing left hand drive versions. They probably will start producing right hand drive versions a couple of years down the line, but of course this will need a lot of RHD specific parts, dashboard, wiring loom, steering components etc so I imagine that for as long as LHD versions are selling as quickly as they can build them, they won’t bother.
Harry Monk:
[quote=“Toddy2”BTW, are you moored up with the collection of boats beside the M45, I go past them a couple of times a week, and when I see them I always think of you!
I am on that stretch of canal (North Oxford Canal) but a bit further to the north west, nearest motorway junction would be J2 of the M6. Off up there on Monday for a few days, can’t wait!
[/quote]
Ah yes, I was thinking of the Barby Moorings,
you must be by Fosse Way, between the Railway line & the M6 ?