would you be willing to share ? thanks in advance. I’m on a hedge where I can’t decide to jump in into this business or not.
I’ll start the ball rolling by urging you not to.
Not a hope in hell of competing with the shark big boys.
Too many snakes not enough ladders.
So…An alternative with more than likely the same result?..
Save a bit of time and effort…draw your cash out, buy a gallon of petrol and torch it.
Or go into something more lucrative instead.
I started up in another life years ago, it was bad enough then,.with not a tenth of the general b/s, the restrictions, and hoops you have to jump through as it is now…and I had good and direct work with no middle man creaming off any profit.
Some will undoubtelly say… 'have a go, you will never know,!..
So you decide, but get more advice first!
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Only have to look at the amount of companies that have gone lately. If they can’t make it work be harder for a new starter.
Unless you have good contacts and can get a contract with someone .
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Don’t do it: approx 500 haulage companies have gone to the wall in the past two years, including big names with plenty of experience and commercial “goodwill”.
There’s never been a worse time to try to become an owner-driver, unless you have a speciality, eg hiab or grab etc, those guys can do ok because it’s niche work.
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Go on lad give it a go, better to have tried and faild than not
you will work a lot harder for a lot less and you will do things
different than you do now i can assure you
what part of the country ar you in ??
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North west mate
Come back and tell him that if he loses his house.
Why put yourself under inevitable hardship when there is no need?
Sure thing ‘go for it’ if that is what he wants to do, as many people do not take advice if it is the type they don’t want to hear, but bear in mind that the odds are vastly stacked against you.
All that will be on offer is indirect work through an established haulier.
He will tell you he is taking 10% of what you make, but it will sure as hell be more, plus if you get trailer hire off him tied in and drawing of fuel, that will be even worse.
The words ‘lamb’ and ‘slaughter’ spring to mind.
Sure thing mate go for it, if you are determined, but I aint making this stuff up for the hell of it and at the end of the day it’s no skin off the end of any of MY extremities if/when it either does not turn out as well as you imagined, or goes totally tits up.
Take my advice or leave it I aint fussed, and I’ll say no more on the subject.
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And you might just strike gold, there is plenty of fair paying work for the right people just dont get ambitous and employ someone then it will go down hill fast
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Got to say mate I think you are giving him false hope and encouragement here.
I (and I presume you) have been in this job long enough to discard the rosey specs and ‘romanticisms’ in this job to know and see what it is like in stark reality, in both aspects as an o/d and an emoloyed driver.
Where exactly are these examples of ‘plenty of fair paying work’ ? that have not been long snapped up and sewn up, by established haulage firms or experienced o/d s?
And especially available to drivers who have only just bought their first truck?
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Your right Rob I have been in transport for almost 50 years and i employ 20 drivers full time and i know you can not get good reliable owner drivers for love nor moneyWe pay fair rates we pay prompt and help owner drivers who work for us as much as we can loan tractor unit / trailers normaly FOC
and if you read my post i did say you will work harder for less
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There ya go then…offer him a lifeline.
Job done.
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There ya go Lee the choice is yours
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I think everyone so far is assuming that @lee29 is an experienced, employed driver?
I hope he (she) isn’t someone thinking of “jumping in” at the deep end of being an owner driver.
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Ya know what mate?.
Despite what I have said, I hope he takes you up on it if it is what he wants to do after weighing up the options.
If he gets a good start with an ‘old style’ fair bloke who takes him under your wing it will be half the battle for him.
I too initially started off with a guy who helped me, I did a year puling his trailers…ok it did not end well years later when I branched out and got direct work and a few more trucks,. but that had nowt to do with him.
Good on ya.
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I know what you are saying, but I too was relatively low experienced at 24.
Again I would not advise anybody to buy their own motor today, but it sounds like a relatively good offer if this guy is genuine, and I have no reason to think he aint.
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So, you’ve been given some encouragement, but do you know what you need to do? How deep are your pockets?
Here’s some things you ought to be thinking about - this is just off the top of my head, not claiming to be an exhaustive list, even though there’s plenty here for sure:
Number one is that you’re talking about starting a business, the fact that it involves a truck is really incidental.
So, have you any business experience? What do you know about financial management? Planning to go sole trader or an incorporated limited company or a partnership?
Who’s going to be your TM so you can apply for your O-licence?
How much will they charge you to be your TM?
Will they do the O-licence application for you?
How much for that extra service? Even doing it yourself costs around a grand.
Do you know the O-licence takes around three months to come through?
Have you got £8,000 financial standing available?
Where will your operating centre be?
How much will that cost per week?
Have you a business plan?
What are your anticipated Standing Costs and Running Costs?
What about the truck? Rent or buy?
Insurance costs for whatever your age bracket is?
Maintenance Provider: know any good ones?
What are they going to charge your for your regular (usually six weekly) safety inspections?
After you’re up an running, how much float will you have to carry you through your working months? Payment for your services won’t be instantaneous, you may wait 30 days, 60 days or even 90 days!
What happens if someone stiffs you by going bust while owing you money?
Feel free to ignore all of the above if you want, I have no investment in what other people choose to do, but it is the reality of being an OD.
What would I know you might ask?
I do external TM work myself, and teach the TMCPC course to would-be Transport Managers, and do other kinds of consultancy work with operators running anywhere between 1 to 50 trucks.
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So much to getting an answer to his question.
Owner drivers rates
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Exactly mate
Exactly what?
You have more or less had an offer of work…the guy said the choice is YOURS.
If you are serious about wanting to start out, surely you will have followed it up in the first instance?..
Surely rates would be discussed then.
No offense mate, just replied to a message above