Hi all, im a 21 year old lift(elevator) mechanic in a position that questions my career. Ive ascended from a long line of truckers but chose a different career path. I always wanted to be a trucker but have been put off by my dad etc telling me that you can earn more as a tradesman. I would love to be self employed as i feel i have the drive and enthusiasm to chase work but unfortunatelly not as a lift engineer due to needing a large workforce and contracts to begin. My question is if i had my licence tractor+trailer and relevant paperwork, and working from cardiff docks would i earn a fair bit. Just for example i live in west wales and i travel upto 1200 miles a week, average 60-70 hours and take home £450 to £550 a week (£10 an hour). Please help as i constantly am thinking about it and dont want to regret my career as a engineer when it`s to late. By the way i have recently purchased a house with my girlfriend and have no kids, and my only hobby is earning money and trucks. Cheers
Welcome lift boy
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I cannot help you with the O/D part of your question but there are many on here that can
Hi mate and welcome
what i would do before you jump in and get every thing is ring up an insurance company and ask how much to insure a truck and trailer at you age cos it could be a lot of money you would need a lot of cover IE goods in transit public liability, personal liability and many more
just an idea
cheers mate for the advice, what should i expect to pay for insurance and will they ask me for truck information? Im just really toying with the idea. I have had my dad telling me i wil only make decent money running as a owner operator, and hes has worked for loads of agencies and companies and now drives a small deliver tanker and is on a good rate.
lift boy:
cheers mate for the advice, what should i expect to pay for insurance and will they ask me for truck information? Im just really toying with the idea. I have had my dad telling me i wil only make decent money running as a owner operator, and hes has worked for loads of agencies and companies and now drives a small deliver tanker and is on a good rate.
hi mate i am not an owner driver but i would think you could be looking at around 6k plus
and also you may be required to be a ltd company and have a operator certificate of professional competence(CPC) or pay for some one to do it for you
Oh right, I knew there was a lot involved. I was reading some posts earlier saying that the containers are roughly £1 per mile. So tell me something, With doing my test (rigid then artic), insurance, buying/leasing a truck, will i make more than what earn now which is £25,000 a year. I am willing to work long hours but I want a return, with my job now i get on-call allowances and at £10 an hour i earn a fair bit, but i would like to know how the flexibility works, and someone doing container runs reply to give me somekind of an idea. I have had a chat with some local haulers but they pay min wage.
One things for sure, and that’s you won’t make money on containers out of Cardiff for the foreseeable future, even if you can get on.
why is that? i have heard mixed feelings over container work, is it just cardiff or any port? any advice is greatly appreciated.
lift boy:
Oh right, I knew there was a lot involved. I was reading some posts earlier saying that the containers are roughly £1 per mile. So tell me something, With doing my test (rigid then artic), insurance, buying/leasing a truck, will i make more than what earn now which is £25,000 a year. I am willing to work long hours but I want a return, with my job now i get on-call allowances and at £10 an hour i earn a fair bit, but i would like to know how the flexibility works, and someone doing container runs reply to give me somekind of an idea. I have had a chat with some local haulers but they pay min wage.
one thing is as you are in work now, if you go S/E and you don’t get any work you wont earn any money and it will still cost you
some idea of the cost you could have
£2 k for your licences
£25 k for a good truck
£8k for a trailer
£6200 for you O/L for 5 years
£6k + for insurance
fuel cost can be up to or more £1k a week
then you have you admin and of course your wage and any other wage or payment you have IE accounts CPC holder
i am not trying to put you off but if you have the funds look in to it
and i would say you will not get guaranteed work at the mo
lift boy:
why is that? i have heard mixed feelings over container work, is it just cardiff or any port? any advice is greatly appreciated.
Well, lets assume to start with you’re doing about 2000 miles a week at £1/mile, so that’s £2000 gross.
2000 miles at 7.5mpg at 90ppl is going to cost you £1100 of that in fuel alone. You have already said you want about £600 before tax as a wage. Your insurance will be at least £100/week. You need at least £300/week for your tractor unit (either all of that for a newish one with R+M included, or part of it to pay the finance, and part for repairs/servicing). That has already come to £2100, which is £100 more than you’re earning, and I’ve not yet mentioned things like operator licencing costs, tyres, the cost of the inevitable breakdowns, parking charges, and no doubt many other things.
Does that answer your question?
Paul
You are in a very lucky position. You are young enough to take a chance, you have no kids to support, and you have a trade to fall back on.
if i was in your position, i’d go for it. you’ve obviously got diesel in your blood.
however, you need to forget about becoming an owner driver until you’ve got 6-12 months experience. when you get your licence it’s just the begining of a massive amount of knowledge that only experience can give you.
you will also make contacts while you are working for someone, you will see the mistakes that your planners make, you will see what work pays and what work just turns wheels.
best of luck in the future. and beware of beverley bell.
just to begin who is beverly bell? I have just bought a property and money is tight. Not mega tight. £300 left each month, its 2 years till my missus qualifies as a nurse so when that happens il be fine. I dont know at the moment i earn a good wage. ive looked at a couple of old scanny`s on ebay and weighed it up. are you a o/ d? and by the way i think i got diesel in my blood, i could drive a unit at 8, gears and the lot.
lift boy:
just to begin who is beverly bell? I have just bought a property and money is tight. Not mega tight. £300 left each month, its 2 years till my missus qualifies as a nurse so when that happens il be fine. I dont know at the moment i earn a good wage. ive looked at a couple of old scanny`s on ebay and weighed it up. are you a o/ d? and by the way i think i got diesel in my blood, i could drive a unit at 8, gears and the lot.
she is a traffic commissioner if you do any thing wrong you would have to have a meeting with a TC and there can take away your O/L and you vocational drivers licence(LGV)
is she smart? lol. lot of mixed answers to my questions. nice to see some people care, my missus is upset cos i want to leave what im qualified to do, and instead drive trucks but i want to be flexible and earn good money.
My advice would be to get your HGV licence first by training at the weekends or on a holiday period from work (intensive week course better of the 2). Then try and get some agency work at the weekends to top up you wages from the engineers job. See if you still want to drive wagons for a living and learn the trade for a year or two whilst pulling 6 or 7 a week, during this period you can home study (as i did) for your cpc or again do an intensive course in holiday time, then if the right opportunity comes up… This way as well you can get in to local firms/supermarkets and see if they use hauliers, agency route gives you a chance at a bit of face time in companies that aren’t flooded with O/D’s like containers (I wouldn’t do them and bear in mind we are in a recession at the moment). Be very careful, there’s a lot to be said for boring steady work and the missus probly wouldn’t be too impressed if you leave a steady job and make a haymes of running your own wagon.
lift boy:
is she smart? lol.
Ignore Phil, he is Beverley Bells pet stalker and has naked pin ups of her in his truck
At your age you should be listening to your missus and enjoying yourselves in Cardiff.
Which one is Bev?
ye which one is she? does she like trucks i wonder. Na its just i have this moment in my life were i have to paths. If i go driving trucks i wouldnt want to work for a company for to long as were i live the drivers have seriously poor money. One massive well known employer pays min wage. I think its disguisting. At work now i have to get in my van drive for say 2 hours to a job, on the way recieve about 3 breakdown which gives me more pressure, i run from one end of the country to the other and average 12-13 hour shifts 5-7 days a week, and by the way when i get home the phone rings with another call-out. I`d rather know i got 3 nights out and were i am and arrange my own work. What do maritime, pentalver or freightliner pay?
about £1.10 a mile
So is that with your own rig or driving for them?