I wouldn’t normally comment but I am in sort of a reverse situation. Dad was an owner driver all I wanted to do was run my own trucks since I was 10 years old and now I have been doing it 11 years now and have 3 artics. I may be coming into a similar amount of money as the OP, my only thought is great I can get out of this industry!
Maybe the OP can buy you out seldom! 
chaversdad:
Punchy Dan:
I know some think Robk is a zb head but you got laugh or agree with his above postIt pains me to say it but hes not far wrong, it just annoys me that he tars us all with the same brush
I know what you mean ,although it doesn’t bother me ,Iam not about to show my cards on the web .
Rob K:
iguana:
I did it 12yrs ago & I’m still going.Could I earn more as an employed driver in a good gig? Certainly, do I want to do that- no.
Food is on the table, bills are paid, it’s not easy but I’m happy enough.
And right there is the reason why haulage rates are on their arse because you’ve got ODs quite happy to drag pallets around the country for buttons. Not bothered about actually making any money, just so long as it brings in enough for a bit of bingo money for the wife to keep her off my back.
Not really Rob. I ran my own truck for five years and made more than enough to make it worth my while. The only reason I packed up was because I chose to make drastic lifestyle changes and I got out without owing anyone so much as a brass penny.
Rob K:
iguana:
I did it 12yrs ago & I’m still going.Could I earn more as an employed driver in a good gig? Certainly, do I want to do that- no.
Food is on the table, bills are paid, it’s not easy but I’m happy enough.
And right there is the reason why haulage rates are on their arse because you’ve got ODs quite happy to drag pallets around the country for buttons. Not bothered about actually making any money, just so long as it brings in enough for a bit of bingo money for the wife to keep her off my back.
Whoa there Neddy, hauling pallets for buttons? Gibberish man, I very much run a profitable business thanks, I know how to do it & I don’t think I’ve done too badly & have never hauled a pallet or a container in my life, & no not bingo money ha no not quite.
In your original post you were spot on ref a lot of points, the run it as a business point was bang on the money- quite literally, but no need to be personal, you have no idea what I’m on or do.
In my game & I know a handful of us doing the same thing & all go about it slightly differently none of us earn as well as that great paying lorry gig like say the old time Ford guys on the 65k pa or the fuel tanker guys on old contracts etc, but Vs the pay in regular haulage, I’d say it’s on a par, do it right & you can earn OK but it’s not going to make you rich, but importantly you get to control your destiny.
albion:
Generally, you won’t earn a whole load more as an o/d but with a load more hassle.
Actually I didn’t really need to type all my previous wordage, Albion sums it all up far more succinctly above than I managed.
The way RobK frequents the owner-driver forum to let everybody know that he wouldn’t become an owner-driver is remarkably similar to the way he used to plague to Euro-forum to let everybody know that he wouldn’t be prepared to do European work.
Who can forget the classic moment when he posted that he wouldn’t do continental work because he preferred to “stay on the mainland”? 
Perhaps he should move onto the Expat Forum now to explain how superior he is because he wouldn’t move to Canada?
Harry Monk:
Rob K:
iguana:
I did it 12yrs ago & I’m still going.Could I earn more as an employed driver in a good gig? Certainly, do I want to do that- no.
Food is on the table, bills are paid, it’s not easy but I’m happy enough.
And right there is the reason why haulage rates are on their arse because you’ve got ODs quite happy to drag pallets around the country for buttons. Not bothered about actually making any money, just so long as it brings in enough for a bit of bingo money for the wife to keep her off my back.
Not really Rob. I ran my own truck for five years and made more than enough to make it worth my while.
How do you substantiate it being “worth my while” when in another thread you said :
Harry Monk:
Did I make a lot of money running a truck? No, not really, more like a wage I suppose.
You went through all the hassle of setting up a business, applying for an O-licence, securing the funding (granted, you already had it from your divorce - few have that “luxury”), searching for and sourcing a vehicle of questionable reliability, operating centre, work, then all the paperwork and red tape setting up insurances, breakdown cover, 6 weekly inspections and all the driver and vehicle compliance BS you have to do for VOSA and at the end of it all you cross fingers that the company pays you in 30 to 90 days time and doesn’t do a moonlight flit in interim and also hope you don’t get a blow-out or the engine go pop which would wipe out any profit you’d made. All this for a PAYE driver wage? So what’s that then - £500-650 on a good week after everything paid and deductions? 
How is that in any way, shape or form “worth my while” when you can set up as s/e or go on the agency and earn that in 3 days without any of the hassle? Walk in, pick up keys and paperwork, do delivery, ring in, pick up collection, drive back, drop trailer, hand in keys, get time sheet signed, go home, go to pub and have money in your bank account the following Friday. No hassles - as soon as you walk out of the t/o you switch off from ‘work’ mode and don’t return to it until you walk back in the next time you work. As an OD when you get home you fire up your computer and add your figures to your spreadsheets, do some invoicing, spend a bunch of time opening the stack of business related mail and then when you’re done you start worrying about that odd noise the truck was making earlier in the day and whether you should get it looked at before it strands you on the hard shoulder of the M1 throws up a £5k repair bill, £1k for the wrecker and £5k bill for the carriageway clean up and resurfacing after the truck dumps the contents of its engine across 3 lanes. And then the wife returns home empty handed having blown all the bingo money you gave her.
In your opinion that is “worth my while”? No, no it really is not and anyone that has even an ounce of sense can immediately see that. The ones that can’t see it are the ones wearing the blinkers that only see their name on their door and entire contents of the Kelsa and Alcoa showrooms rolling around in their eyelids because they’ve always wanted the glory of having their own truck since they were 5 years old. That counts for around 98% of ODs on the roads today.
When you can do a grand a week as a s/e driver with ease (more if you don’t mind doing weekends) without any hassles then to make being an OD worth your while you’d need to be doing minimum £1500 a week net for all the hassle, time and headaches that you have to deal with. How many of you ODs are doing £1500+ net week in week out? I’ll bet they can be counted on one hand.
Oh dear 
iguana:
albion:
Generally, you won’t earn a whole load more as an o/d but with a load more hassle.Actually I didn’t really need to type all my previous wordage, Albion sums it all up far more succinctly above than I managed.
And hassle’s opposite is the ability you have to decide what you do - be that stay as an OD or take some chances and put some more trucks on the road. And that isn’t quantifiable on a balance sheet.
I’ve had a lot of hassle - as Rob says, driving, then coming back and having to go through some accounts, sort out breakdown, look at the bank account and pray it looks healthy enough to meet the financial standing. But it was worth it because it gave me a freedom of sorts. I maintain as a boss you are never free as your customer is your employer, but it is certainly more liberating than being an employee if that is your mindset.
Rob K:
Harry Monk:
Rob K:
iguana:
I did it 12yrs ago & I’m still going.Could I earn more as an employed driver in a good gig? Certainly, do I want to do that- no.
Food is on the table, bills are paid, it’s not easy but I’m happy enough.
And right there is the reason why haulage rates are on their arse because you’ve got ODs quite happy to drag pallets around the country for buttons. Not bothered about actually making any money, just so long as it brings in enough for a bit of bingo money for the wife to keep her off my back.
Not really Rob. I ran my own truck for five years and made more than enough to make it worth my while.
How do you substantiate it being “worth my while” when in another thread you said :
Harry Monk:
Did I make a lot of money running a truck? No, not really, more like a wage I suppose.You went through all the hassle of setting up a business, applying for an O-licence, securing the funding (granted, you already had it from your divorce - few have that “luxury”), searching for and sourcing a vehicle of questionable reliability, operating centre, work, then all the paperwork and red tape setting up insurances, breakdown cover, 6 weekly inspections and all the driver and vehicle compliance BS you have to do for VOSA and at the end of it all you cross fingers that the company pays you in 30 to 90 days time and doesn’t do a moonlight flit in interim and also hope you don’t get a blow-out or the engine go pop which would wipe out any profit you’d made. All this for a PAYE driver wage? So what’s that then - £500-650 on a good week after everything paid and deductions?
How is that in any way, shape or form “worth my while” when you can set up as s/e or go on the agency and earn that in 3 days without any of the hassle? Walk in, pick up keys and paperwork, do delivery, ring in, pick up collection, drive back, drop trailer, hand in keys, get time sheet signed, go home, go to pub and have money in your bank account the following Friday. No hassles - as soon as you walk out of the t/o you switch off from ‘work’ mode and don’t return to it until you walk back in the next time you work. As an OD when you get home you fire up your computer and add your figures to your spreadsheets, do some invoicing, spend a bunch of time opening the stack of business related mail and then when you’re done you start worrying about that odd noise the truck was making earlier in the day and whether you should get it looked at before it strands you on the hard shoulder of the M1 throws up a £5k repair bill, £1k for the wrecker and £5k bill for the carriageway clean up and resurfacing after the truck dumps the contents of its engine across 3 lanes. And then the wife returns home empty handed having blown all the bingo money you gave her.
In your opinion that is “worth my while”?
When you can do a grand a week as a s/e driver with ease (more if you don’t mind doing weekends) without any hassles then to make being an OD worth your while you’d need to be doing minimum £1500 a week net for all the hassle, time and headaches that you have to deal with. How many of you ODs are doing £1500+ net week in week out? I’ll bet they can be counted on one hand.
"it strands you on the hard shoulder of the M1 throws up a £5k repair bill, "…Contract hire on full R&M 
"The ones that can’t see it are the ones wearing the blinkers that only see their name on their door "…33 years as an Owner Operator and never had my name on the door
"entire contents of the Kelsa and Alcoa showrooms "…who are they?
Would I do it again…in the same circumstances, yes…if I was making the money you are talking about, no.
Rob K:
Harry Monk:
Rob K:
iguana:
I did it 12yrs ago & I’m still going.Could I earn more as an employed driver in a good gig? Certainly, do I want to do that- no.
Food is on the table, bills are paid, it’s not easy but I’m happy enough.
And right there is the reason why haulage rates are on their arse because you’ve got ODs quite happy to drag pallets around the country for buttons. Not bothered about actually making any money, just so long as it brings in enough for a bit of bingo money for the wife to keep her off my back.
Not really Rob. I ran my own truck for five years and made more than enough to make it worth my while.
How do you substantiate it being “worth my while” when in another thread you said :
Harry Monk:
Did I make a lot of money running a truck? No, not really, more like a wage I suppose.You went through all the hassle of setting up a business, applying for an O-licence, securing the funding (granted, you already had it from your divorce - few have that “luxury”), searching for and sourcing a vehicle of questionable reliability, operating centre, work, then all the paperwork and red tape setting up insurances, breakdown cover, 6 weekly inspections and all the driver and vehicle compliance BS you have to do for VOSA and at the end of it all you cross fingers that the company pays you in 30 to 90 days time and doesn’t do a moonlight flit in interim and also hope you don’t get a blow-out or the engine go pop which would wipe out any profit you’d made. All this for a PAYE driver wage? So what’s that then - £500-650 on a good week after everything paid and deductions?
How is that in any way, shape or form “worth my while” when you can set up as s/e or go on the agency and earn that in 3 days without any of the hassle? Walk in, pick up keys and paperwork, do delivery, ring in, pick up collection, drive back, drop trailer, hand in keys, get time sheet signed, go home, go to pub and have money in your bank account the following Friday. No hassles - as soon as you walk out of the t/o you switch off from ‘work’ mode and don’t return to it until you walk back in the next time you work. As an OD when you get home you fire up your computer and add your figures to your spreadsheets, do some invoicing, spend a bunch of time opening the stack of business related mail and then when you’re done you start worrying about that odd noise the truck was making earlier in the day and whether you should get it looked at before it strands you on the hard shoulder of the M1 throws up a £5k repair bill, £1k for the wrecker and £5k bill for the carriageway clean up and resurfacing after the truck dumps the contents of its engine across 3 lanes. And then the wife returns home empty handed having blown all the bingo money you gave her.
In your opinion that is “worth my while”?
When you can do a grand a week as a s/e driver with ease (more if you don’t mind doing weekends) without any hassles then to make being an OD worth your while you’d need to be doing minimum £1500 a week net for all the hassle, time and headaches that you have to deal with. How many of you ODs are doing £1500+ net week in week out? I’ll bet they can be counted on one hand.
I’ve never claimed to have earned a fortune. To boil it down to numbers I probably made around £100 a week more than I would have done in an employed job in the area in which I was living. So over five years, that makes a return of £25,000 on an investment of £40,000, plus Working Tax Credits of around £10,000, as my accountant told me I wasn’t earning very much.
Do you know a bank or building society which pays a return on a five-year bond like that?
I also came out of it with an Operator’s CPC, a driver’s CPC, thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment which now live happily on my narrowboat, it paid many of the bills at home, many of the costs of running my car, but most importantly of all I enjoyed the experience and lived a happy and equitable life. It was the right thing to do at the time, and then it wasn’t so I went off to do something else instead.
To me, what is sad is that you constantly pop up to pour cold water on other people’s ambitions without ever once having had an ambition of your own greater than being a steering wheel monkey. Now, why don’t you just jog off back to the Euro drivers forum to let everybody know how superior you are because you’ve never been outside Yorkshire?
I’ve never claimed to have earned a fortune. To boil it down to numbers I probably made around £100 a week more than I would have done in an employed job in the area in which I was living. So over five years, that makes a return of £25,000 on an investment of £40,000, plus Working Tax Credits of around £10,000, as my accountant told me I wasn’t earning very much.
Do you know a bank or building society which pays a return on a five-year bond like that?
I also came out of it with an Operator’s CPC, a driver’s CPC, thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment which now live happily on my narrowboat, it paid many of the bills at home, many of the costs of running my car, but most importantly of all I enjoyed the experience and lived a happy and equitable life. It was the right thing to do at the time, and then it wasn’t so I went off to do something else instead.
To me, what is sad is that you constantly pop up to pour cold water on other people’s ambitions without ever once having had an ambition of your own greater than being a steering wheel monkey. Now, why don’t you just jog off back to the Euro drivers forum to let everybody know how superior you are because you’ve never been outside Yorkshire?
[/quote]
Nice one!
Harry Monk:
I’ve never claimed to have earned a fortune. To boil it down to numbers I probably made around £100 a week more than I would have done in an employed job in the area in which I was living. So over five years, that makes a return of £25,000 on an investment of £40,000, plus Working Tax Credits of around £10,000, as my accountant told me I wasn’t earning very much.
So roughly £700-800 per week before tax and taking advantage of a tax loophole in your opinion made it worth your while, and that’s why you recommend doing it to other budding ODs who are thinking of giving it a go. OK then… What could possibly go wrong?
Do you know a bank or building society which pays a return on a five-year bond like that?
Do you have any other apples and oranges you’d like to compare?
I also came out of it with an Operator’s CPC, a driver’s CPC
And? Am I meant to be impressed by this faux superiority you now deem you hold over lower class truck driving minions?
thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment which now live happily on my narrowboat
Which will collect dust and not see the light of day again until your family discovers them when they’re wrapping up your Estate.
it paid many of the bills at home, many of the costs of running my car, but most importantly of all I enjoyed the experience and lived a happy and equitable life. It was the right thing to do at the time, and then it wasn’t so I went off to do something else instead.
That’s great and I’m pleased you enjoyed the experience, but for the amount of hours you’d have put into it for your extra £100 week you are kidding yourself and everyone else here that it was “worth your while”. It was perhaps worth your while from an experience and enjoyment perspective, but certainly not from a time:money perspective because in real terms you’ve worked longer hours for less money overall once you factor in all the time required on the non-driving aspects of being an OD.
To me, what is sad is that you constantly pop up to pour cold water on other people’s ambitions without ever once having had an ambition of your own greater than being a steering wheel monkey.
You know nothing about me nor my ambitions so that’s just more rhetoric to add to your earlier rhetoric that becoming an OD is “worthwhile”. In the past 3 years I’ve done about 60 days driving a truck which was done purely to acquire the funding I needed at a faster pace so that I could start a new business. I no longer drive for a living and my tacho card has long since expired, so forgive me for finding it amusing how you are trying to belittle me over my apparent lack of ambition(s) while the Master of Ambition himself has packed up his steering wheel monkey gig to go do something ambitious with his life that doesn’t involve being a steering wheel monkey… Oh wait…
Now, why don’t you just jog off back to the Euro drivers forum to let everybody know how superior you are because you’ve never been outside Yorkshire?
Objection! I’ve been to Anglesey and Holy Island, neither of which are on the mainland . What more do you want man?
Rob K:
Harry Monk:
I’ve never claimed to have earned a fortune. To boil it down to numbers I probably made around £100 a week more than I would have done in an employed job in the area in which I was living. So over five years, that makes a return of £25,000 on an investment of £40,000, plus Working Tax Credits of around £10,000, as my accountant told me I wasn’t earning very much.So roughly £700-800 per week before tax and taking advantage of a tax loophole in your opinion made it worth your while, and that’s why you recommend doing it to other budding ODs who are thinking of giving it a go. OK then… What could possibly go wrong?
Do you know a bank or building society which pays a return on a five-year bond like that?
Do you have any other apples and oranges you’d like to compare?
I also came out of it with an Operator’s CPC, a driver’s CPC
And? Am I meant to be impressed by this faux superiority you now deem you hold over lower class truck driving minions?
thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment which now live happily on my narrowboat
Which will collect dust and not see the light of day again until your family discovers them when they’re wrapping up your Estate.
it paid many of the bills at home, many of the costs of running my car, but most importantly of all I enjoyed the experience and lived a happy and equitable life. It was the right thing to do at the time, and then it wasn’t so I went off to do something else instead.
That’s great and I’m pleased you enjoyed the experience, but for the amount of hours you’d have put into it for your extra £100 week you are kidding yourself and everyone else here that it was “worth your while”. It was perhaps worth your while from an experience and enjoyment perspective, but certainly not from a time:money perspective because in real terms you’ve worked longer hours for less money overall once you factor in all the time required on the non-driving aspects of being an OD.
To me, what is sad is that you constantly pop up to pour cold water on other people’s ambitions without ever once having had an ambition of your own greater than being a steering wheel monkey.
You know nothing about me nor my ambitions so that’s just more rhetoric to add to your earlier rhetoric that becoming an OD is “worthwhile”. In the past 3 years I’ve done about 60 days driving a truck which was done purely to acquire the funding I needed at a faster pace so that I could start a new business. I no longer drive for a living and my tacho card has long since expired, so forgive me for finding it amusing how you are trying to belittle me over my apparent lack of ambition(s) while the Master of Ambition himself has packed up his steering wheel monkey gig to go do something ambitious with his life that doesn’t involve being a steering wheel monkey… Oh wait…
Now, why don’t you just jog off back to the Euro drivers forum to let everybody know how superior you are because you’ve never been outside Yorkshire?
Objection! I’ve been to Anglesey and Holy Island, neither of which are on the mainland
Gosh, thank you for devoting so much time and effort to me and apologies for not returning the compliment.
Harry Monk:
Gosh, thank you for devoting so much time and effort to me and apologies for not returning the compliment.
So in summary I think it’s fair to say that no, it isn’t “worth your while” becoming an OD unless you can turn c.£1500 a week after all deductions (beermat figure, YMMV), and the only way you’re ever going to achieve that is by knowing people in high places where you have a mutually beneficial back-scratching brown envelope arrangement to ensure they keep using you for their haulage at your above market rates and don’t drop you like a hot rock for the new kid on the block in his fancy Scania with straight-through pipes that would be happy to do the same job for half what you’re charging.
I’m sure there are enterprising ODs out there with the nous to do what’s required in business to ensure that they’re “looked after” but they are the exception rather than norm. The vast majority are only in it for the glory and can be found polishing their Alcoa’s and adjusting their frilly curtains on dock quays and brick & block yards all over the country, all for no more than a tramper driver’s wage each week. To any non-blinkered person with an ounce of intelligence, that tells you no, it’s not worthwhile doing. 
hubman:
Hi Mate
I would invest is in a rental home.
More or less guaranteed the investment is safe, would go up on value and have a income.
Oh wait.A BTL mortgage means that you’re totally reliant on maintaining tenant occupancy at all times to service the mortgage.Any break in that for whatever reason means an increasing mortgage payment shortfall the longer it goes on and tenants know it actually giving them more leverage than naive BTL mortgage lumbered landlords might think.
To the point where the mortgage lender re po’s the property and flogs it for whatever they can get bearing in mind that so long as it covers their stake in it they don’t give a zb about yours.Also bearing in mind that you’re still liable for any shortfall between what was lent v what the place is actually sold for.While the real BTL sharks who buy such properties for cash at auction know a desperate fire sale when they see one and laugh at ‘market’ prices as part of that.To the point where you could not only lose the original investment in the place but also end up owing the mortgage lender more cash because the price obtained is less than the outstanding mortgage let alone the sum of the outstanding mortgage and the deposit.Bearing in mind that even the whole £45,000 is peanuts v the total cost of the average house and easily knocked off and more in such a fire sale at auction.On that note check out the number of to let boards in a typical rental market development.
Which makes the exit strategy,if needed,to get out of a speculative toe in the water gamble with a cheap wagon with hopefully at least a year’s life left in it, look bleedin attractive by comparison.
Rob K:
So in summary I think it’s fair to say that no, it isn’t “worth your while” becoming an OD unless you can turn c.£1500 a week after all deductions (beermat figure, YMMV), and the only way you’re ever going to achieve that is by knowing people in high places where you have a mutually beneficial back-scratching brown envelope arrangement to ensure they keep using you for their haulage at your above market rates and don’t drop you like a hot rock for the new kid on the block in his fancy Scania with straight-through pipes that would be happy to do the same job for half what you’re charging.I’m sure there are enterprising ODs out there with the nous to do what’s required in business to ensure that they’re “looked after” but they are the exception rather than norm. The vast majority are only in it for the glory and can be found polishing their Alcoa’s and adjusting their frilly curtains on dock quays and brick & block yards all over the country, all for no more than a tramper driver’s wage each week. To any non-blinkered person with an ounce of intelligence, that tells you no, it’s not worthwhile doing.
It’s not worth it to you, but it’s worth it to them. We all have different priorities.
You see people with children all the time. They cost a fortune to run, clothes, games, time spent in caring for them with absolutely no guarantee of any return, they eat you out of house and home and at some point they may breakdown. To any non-blinkered person with an ounce of intelligence, that tells you no, it’s not worthwhile doing…
That might sound flippant Rob, but I’ve never run a business because I want to be a millionaire, I ran it because I wanted to be my own boss, because I like looking at my (very average, unKelsa-ed plain white) trucks. I don’t think that everything has to be based on a spreadsheet (really nsmith ), if it was I’d have taken the other career option and married a rich bloke.
Rob K:
So in summary I think it’s fair to say that no, it isn’t “worth your while” becoming an OD unless you can turn c.£1500 a week after all deductions (beermat figure, YMMV), and the only way you’re ever going to achieve that is by knowing people in high places where you have a mutually beneficial back-scratching brown envelope arrangement to ensure they keep using you for their haulage at your above market rates and don’t drop you like a hot rock for the new kid on the block in his fancy Scania with straight-through pipes that would be happy to do the same job for half what you’re charging.I’m sure there are enterprising ODs out there with the nous to do what’s required in business to ensure that they’re “looked after” but they are the exception rather than norm. The vast majority are only in it for the glory and can be found polishing their Alcoa’s and adjusting their frilly curtains on dock quays and brick & block yards all over the country, all for no more than a tramper driver’s wage each week. To any non-blinkered person with an ounce of intelligence, that tells you no, it’s not worthwhile doing.
Look Rob, here’s the thing. For various reasons, I would not consider moving to Canada. But I don’t pop up on the expats forum every time anyone asks about moving to Canada to let everybody know that I would not consider moving to Canada, since this type of input would not add anything of value to the thread and would, in fact, make me appear to be somewhat obtuse. Yet here you are again with your perennial favourite subject “Me and how smart I am not to run a truck”. I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t reeled you back in now.
I.ll stick by what i.ve always said, if you have the right work its worth doing, and yes i have frilly tartan curtains, airhorns and spotlights, but alas no alloy wheels, maybe in another 20yrs i.ll be able to afford a set