How are ODs doing at the moment?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OWNER AND FLEET OPERATORS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

I’m on the point of being made redundant, and there aren’t any good jobs going in my part of the world at the moment. Come to think of it, there aren’t any bad jobs either.

I’ve always resisted the temptation to buy a truck, figuring that being employed is easier and less risky but buying a truck might be one answer to my problem.

I would have no problem getting my CPC and an “O” licence, and could buy a decent 04/54-reg Spacecab or FH12 outright from the beginning.

But I have watched the number of ODs dwindle to almost nothing over the years and I figure there must be a reason for this.

Is this something I should even be thinking about?

2

Ive been thinking about the same sort of thing for some time as well, but starting with something smaller, 18 tonne maybe. There seems to be loads of haulage co’s advertising work for ODs. It looks tempting from the outside but everyone keeps saying dont do it. WHY? Is it that bad or can you make a living wage from it?

3

Harry Monk:
I’ve always resisted the temptation to buy a truck

In the current economic climate and the current state of road transport I would strongly advise you keep resisting the temptation, unless you can find your self a nice specialist niche market. I know you work for a smaller haulier who seems to have managed to keep going longer than most and who I understand from some of your accounts does do a bit of the more specialist work. Now if he is making you redundant, you have to take a long look at the reasons for that and consider if those reasons would go some, or all, of the way to helping you reach a sensible decision here.

4

steamer:
There seems to be loads of haulage co’s advertising work for ODs.

There’s your answer then. If the work was any good and paid a decent rate they wouldn’t need to advertise the fact. The good work never gets advertised. The stuff you are seeing will be covered by an endless procession of OD’s, of two types. The first are the guys who are on the downward spiral and who will do anything just to keep the wheels turning, as they believe that will keep them afloat even if when they are making no money. The second are the new guys who have spent out on a truck, often way over spec for the work they are doing because every OD must have the most powerful truck they can get for their money, and take any old work they can get because they need to make the payments but hadn’t actually got decent work in place before they bought their truck.

Each last a month or two, maybe 6 months if they are lucky, before realising they cannot make it pay and fold, whereupon their space is taken by another OD who will repeat the pattern.

5

Wise words. You should only become an OD if you have a solid offer of high paying work from a reputable company, preferably in a niche market (not containers!) getting a truck, then trying to get decent work is crazy. Spot hire the truck (month up front but newish motor for £350 per week) so you have a quick exit strategy if needed also the maintenance and breakdown is then down to the rental company, might be more expensive in the long run but if the work is worth doing, won’t make much difference. Buying/Leasing a truck ties you in too much in my opinion unless you are 100% happy with the reliability of the work and buying sees a very large chunk of cash go in to a concern that may not work, a quick exit strategy helps you sleep at night. About 70 to 80% of owner driver type work is not worth the effort on the return in my opinion.

6

it is very very tough to make sufficient money to pay a decent wage after costs. If you do go down that route, you will have to do the figures with a fine toothcomb and work in some contingency plans. I started 91 with 3 vans and now run a mix of vans and trucks. I was doing 100 -120 hours for the first 2 years and got some lucky breaks; I don’t think it’s got easier since then and I’d certainly want to see which way the economy is heading this year before committing myself. Sorry to sound negative.

7

I agree with whats been said already, if you can find the right work, without going through someone who creams his bit off the top you may be able to make it work.

I was lucky, got in to a multi national company through knowing someone there, and so far its been 3 very good years, I get the pick of the work, and they only use me for their exhibition work and anything outside the normal box.
I am able to enjoy good rates, prompt payments and also now have pretty much a priority for anything that wants to be loaded.

I never forget how lucky I am here, and long may it continue for me, and I wish you the best in whatever way you decide this.

8

Harry, you have a PM

9

and could buy a decent 04/54-reg Spacecab or FH12 outright from the beginning.

If you have that kind of spare money stick it in a high interest account and increase it, you will still have it in a year or 2s time, plus more,

go down the OD route you could quickly decrease it …probably to zero…within months

10

routier:
go down the OD route you could quickly decrease it …probably to zero…within months

erm, unless he didn’t insure the rig and then totalled it (his fault) then that’d be pretty impossible to do, wouldn’t it? :confused:

with the market like it is he’d likely not lose very much over 6/12 months if it didn’t work out, yes, insurance, tax etc but not down to zero, no way :unamused:

i’d be the first to agree that it’s far from rosy right now and unlikely to improve a great deal short-term, but most of the nay-sayers on here have done it and FAILED - sour grapes maybe? :imp:

11

jj72:

routier:
go down the OD route you could quickly decrease it …probably to zero…within months

erm, unless he didn’t insure the rig and then totalled it (his fault) then that’d be pretty impossible to do, wouldn’t it? :confused:

with the market like it is he’d likely not lose very much over 6/12 months if it didn’t work out, yes, insurance, tax etc but not down to zero, no way :unamused:

i’d be the first to agree that it’s far from rosy right now and unlikely to improve a great deal short-term, but most of the nay-sayers on here have done it and FAILED - sour grapes maybe? :imp:

Cost of truck , kept for 6/12 months, he wouldnt lose any money ? Vehicles do not appreciate but depreciate, dont they ?

Price of fuel goin up …Constantly…wouldnt lose any money ? How much were you paying last January 2007 compared to now ? How much were you paying in 2006 compared to now ?

Whats the ratio in rate increase compared to fuel increase /running costs?

Rates goin up … Dont think so…

Chances of not gettin paid …he would’nt lose any money ?

Sour Grapes ? C’mon now u must be jokin me

I cant see anybody being envious of anyone who has the headaches and heartaches of haulage

You can bust a gut to turnover £2/3 grand in a week and then lose it all the following week if sumthin goes wrong

i’d be the first to agree that it’s far from rosy right now and unlikely to improve a great deal short-term,

when did the last time haulage improved then ?

12

i know this might sound like a personal question but taking into account the purchase/hire of the vehicle (say £350 a week, £2800 for the first month ish?) how much is your monthly running cost?

ie, insurance?Vehicle and load?
fuel?
accountant/taxman?
any others that i cant think of■■?

when you put that against your income how does it sway? are you really short or just short or on a winner?

how much is a O licence? (do you need one if using just 1 hire vehicle?)

how many hours worked to get a decent wage from a semi decent firm? is it worth two people doing one lorry working it about 20 hours a day 5 days a week?

any advice is appreciated,before i make the biggest mistake of my life and decide to go into it in about 6 months time

13

you weren’t listening routier were you? i said no way would he go down to zero from depreciation and standing costs (unless he didn’t bother earning a penny) as you had implied

i’m not saying it’s all rosey - far from it, but it seems in vogue to jump on the “nobody can make money from transport” bandwagon for some reason

although I don’t actually know HM, and i’m not peeing up his back, i’d imagine he has more about him to make a venture work than most on here :bulb:

14

Premium tractors are a funny thing sometimes. I bought one about a year old in 91, ran it near 3yrs and got only 5 grand less than what I paid. in that time the lorry earned around 170,000 quid, and back then we were all moaning about how we’d never make a bean at 40p per litre.

My gaffer tells me recently that our last 2nd hand topliner (04) is now worth just as much as he paid, because theyre in demand is he lying? I dont know but I dont think so. Haulage aint ever been rosy and thats the truth, even the brs struggled and they had a monopoly by law! :laughing: :wink: but it’s allways here aint it?

The fact is that someone allways finds a way to get by and make a few bob, and another dont, what the why’s and wherefores are vary in each case, but it’s allways here. Are there more or less lorries on the roads than there was 20 years ago? I know theres a greater burden of cost and law on the operator, yet theres never been so many at it has there? so theres the conundrum.

15

Giblsa:
i know this might sound like a personal question but taking into account the purchase/hire of the vehicle (say £350 a week, £2800 for the first month ish?) how much is your monthly running cost?

ie, insurance?Vehicle and load?
fuel?
accountant/taxman?
any others that i cant think of■■?

You’ve got most of them, certainly by size anyway as fuel+wages will come to getting on for 75 or even 80% of your total costs. Others you didn’t mention include:

Cost of parking at your operating centre.
Tyres.
Vehicle washing.
Trailer hire.

Paul

16

repton:
You’ve got most of them, certainly by size anyway as fuel+wages will come to getting on for 75 or even 80% of your total costs. Others you didn’t mention include:

Cost of parking at your operating centre.
Tyres.
Vehicle washing.
Trailer hire.

Paul

any values on them? i know it is a how longs a piece of strng question but just rough estimates? (if you hire a lorry and have a puncture/blow out do they repair it or is it down the the driver/oprator at the time?)

17

Borderer:
My gaffer tells me recently that our last 2nd hand topliner (04) is now worth just as much as he paid, because theyre in demand is he lying?

no hes dead right, due to the high number of new trucks being snapped up by johnny foreigner, and also the digy tacho scenario, the truck market is highly competetive right now, my 03 reg truck cost me 25k 2.5 years ago, and I was recently offered 28k for it as a straight cash sale

18

Thinking of going OD?

Heres my thoughts, for what they are worth.

Am an OD with a concrete firm, have one mixer truck, the truck is on lease from the Company, all work supplied by the Company, and to be fair its been steady to good work, very few days over the last 2 years that I have not made money, diesel is subsidised at 90ppl, the downsides are heavy fuel consumption, wear to tyres because of the building sites we have to negotiate, damage and wear and tear on the trucks…

If things go bad I do have an option to walk away…

Earnings, lowest clear profit was 2.5k a month, best has been 8k a month, swings and roundabouts.

Looked at Maritime as artics have always been my first love, all the Container Cos are poor, poss same as im on now earnings wise over the year, longer hours, away from home, paying for food/parking etc. thanks but no thanks…

My advise, Go to Hansons/Lafarge/Tarmac and look at thier OD packages, they do em for Mixers and Tippers, its not everyones cup of tea, but it puts bread on the table. Bear in mind that things will go wrong, tyres will blow/wear out, keep the wagon as clean as poss, just by cleaning you can check at the same time, keep on top of maintenance, little faults can go big if you dont fix em, and if you have a clean well kept motor VOSA aint gonna be on your case.

Bear in mind it can be stressful owning your own truck, if an engine blows its can be 10k to replace, if you are employed it aint your problem etc…

Hope my ramblings have helped…

My first post by the way, great site :slight_smile:

19

harry i have read your posts, you are half way there you have experiance ,aptitude. in my oppinionyou sound like you know how to get best out of a vehicle ie brake linnings clutches ect .my advice if you have enough for a good deposit like a third of price buy new,2 nd hand only if you know where it,s been

20

JJ , I was’nt trying to be negative its just that the ones who dont make it for whatever reason far out weigh the ones that do, theres so many , many obstacles stacked against anybody trying to get their venture off the ground thats its almost impossible.

If its not one thing then its another and the goal posts are always moving.

I have just come back from Almeria , flying to/from Alicante and the thing that surprised me most was that I think I saw approx 5 Eastern European trucks, all the rest were Spanish, top of the range kit, and everyone with near enough new fridges.

Now in the UK, its gone the other way round, every other truck you see is of Eastern European origin so how is the average one man band OD supposed to compete ?

All I was trying to state to HM was that if hes got a stash of cash then he would be better off doing sumthin else with than ploughing it into a truck.

Just some ODs that spring to mind who packed in on this site are for various reasons:
Coffee, PaulB, BigTruck, NSH, Ianyng,Topcat,…Wonder what they r doin now…

by PaulB if you want an honest opinion? right now with the way things are going and the way this particular government semm to be viewing road haulage in general you’d have to be stark raving mad to even contemplate investing any money in it.
sorry if thats not want you want to hear but theres o/d’s packin it in everyday simply because they’re sick of being screwed, either by the latest fuel price hyke or some ■■■■■■ that won’t pay their bill.