So go on, how many here ran their own truck/trucks and quit and now drive for a big company or something ? When and why did you quit ?
How many here would like to run their own truck ■■
How many people here are looking at running a truck of their own and how have you decided you can make it work financially ?
Myself, never done it and don’t believe I could make it pay sadly, a level of interest exists but sadly I think that is all it will ever be.
I would love to run my own at least one truck,but ive grown to accept the fact that it will probably never happen,certiantly not in the next few years anyhow,simply due to running cost and lack of work etc,the bigger well established firms are just ticking over at times,in our place out of about 40 drivers i know 3 or 4 who had their own trucks nothing major and wrapped up for same reasons.
If i ever won the lotto id buy a top spec motor and style it my way with my name on it just for the sake of it.
Phantom Mark:
So go on, how many here ran their own truck/trucks and quit and now drive for a big company or something ? When and why did you quit ?How many here would like to run their own truck ■■
How many people here are looking at running a truck of their own and how have you decided you can make it work financially ?
Owned a small firm in the 80s, went bust in 92ish when main contract co. went bust taking me with them. Miss it today like you miss haemorrhoids after a cure, I don’t honestly know how a lad could run his own motor today when I think that I was on a similar milage rate then, as some are on today, being as I was on direct haulage, but costs, especially fuel ,were a fraction of the price then to what they are today.
thought about it a few times over the years, but never been the right time personally.
looked into it alot of late, and am working on a plan to save like mad over the next 2 years, do as much research as poss, and maybe, just maybe, if i can find the right kind of work to get started, i’d give it a go.
think having your own customers if poss is the way forward, especially if you can get into some sort of “niche” work, as opposed to general. containers and ro-ro trailers are not for me, although some, to their credit have done well in this field.
Came close when I was 26, in the end I put a deposit on a house & bought a motorbike
Every driver I’ve ever met used to “run their own truck” 
Apart from me it seems 
I was too busy in “the squadron”, and the day I was going to look at a unit to buy I got held up by that damned HOFE sinking in me leaving me stranded for 30hrs in the upturned keel, thankfully one of my mates was passing with a gas kit on his inflatable boat and cut me out and here we are today.
I ran my own concrete mixer until july this year…gave up as i needed to replace it but did’nt fancy investing circa £80,000 with the state of the construction industry at present. Other factors were also that i want to re-locate to another part of the country soon and could’nt guarantee the vehicle being put into a plant where i move to. Am working on agency at the moment and seems to be ok…probably go quiet soon but am lucky that the wife is “money efficient” and has put some back so we can go for about 3 months without work if needbe. Nice not having to worry about fuel bill or theft or breakdown/punctures etc…Would i buy another truck where i move to…probably…i miss being my own boss (even if franchised to a large company) and just working locally.
It seems the specialist / niche local style work will always lend itself to the small company thankfully, seems the big boys have no interest in that kind of work, maybe that is the key to running your own ?
I would love to run my own 3.5 tonner you know the ones I mean with the little pod on top of the cab because they’ve got to be cheaper and easier to set up.
But unfortunately as I work for a company paying decent wage driving decent kit with decent terms and conditions I’m not likely to give it a go.
But out of interest if anybody knows what the start up costs would be I’d like to know purely just to read.
bald bloke:
I work for a company paying decent wage driving decent kit with decent terms and conditions
I run my own truck, and there’s a living to be made at it, but not much more than that. However, it is more satisfying in other ways.
Two pieces of advice I’d always give to anyone asking about going O/D…
1). If you are in Baldbloke’s situation, as above, then stick with that.
2). Don’t ever risk your family home for a truck.
Ran my own artic bulk tipper out of the local quarries on the tarmac/stone for four years 04/08, gambled and sold up as took into account what I saw as the housing/credit bubble about to pop and big cutbacks in road maintenance budget 
Business bank account when closed was nicely in the BLACK and could go back and get work at any of those 14 quarries tomorrow IF they had ANY WORK
Being asked constantly about considering putting a unit onto DFDS as a subbie on local/Irish work but time is not right,
maybe in 4/5 years to see how things pan out. 
Working full time nights on Agency atm for Tesco/Sainsburys and its dead on. 
I did the same as whybother with a mixer & tipper, would I do it again, no, poor rates, one sided contacts, weighbridge/plant men usually idiots who expected backhanders, I made a good living out of it but there’s more to life than money,
A lot of regulation coming in constantly, the length of time the ‘company’ expected you to finance the vehicle over went up a year rather than the rates going up I baled out 1/2 way through a contract when I found another job. I saw many marriages & lives crumple under the stress of it sometimes.
But I’ve considered bald blokes option a few times, problem is I get reasonable money, sick pay, holidays, pension etc now which will take some beating, maybe when the kids are older & I don’t need a house I may consider it again 
I ran my own for 20yrs up untill October this year.The first 19 yrs were good 13 of those working direct to a large brewery.But then a large haulage company came in and did’nt use sub contractors so I had to finish.
In January this year I gave LKW a go and then Maritime I was leaving home on Monday and getting home late Friday if I was lucky or Saturday afternoon. I could’nt work any harder or longer hours if I tried and was just about able to take a very basic wage out of the business.
Anyway a decision had to be made do I carry on working for Maritime or sell the truck and call it a day.I decided to sell the truck and walk away from it.
I take my hat off to guys like Harry Monk and wish him all the luck in the world ( you’ll need it) But I wasn’t prepared to be a busy fool.It’s all very well saying I like being my own boss and in charge of my own destiny,that’s all well and good if you have a lucrative contract or decent paying work and you can clear a decent profit.It gives you the feel good factor and you look forward to starting again on Monday,but when you’re just breaking even whats the point of all the grief.
If I was still in the brewery I woud’nt be writing this and would have stuck it out until I retired but my hand was forced sadly.Anyway that’s my take on it so If anyone is seriously thinking about spending they’re savings and going to work as a sub contractor.Get your calculator out first and do the sums.Good luck
Welshman:
I take my hat off to guys like Harry Monk and wish him all the luck in the world ( you’ll need it) But I wasn’t prepared to be a busy fool.It’s all very well saying I like being my own boss and in charge of my own destiny,that’s all well and good if you have a lucrative contract or decent paying work and you can clear a decent profit.It gives you the feel good factor and you look forward to starting again on Monday,but when you’re just breaking even whats the point of all the grief.
I’m not so much looking at the present, for now it’s enough that Southern Star pays me a reasonable wage and makes a small profit. I’m earning more than I would do sitting at home and watching the Jeremy Kyle show.
I’m really more looking towards the future, hoping that I can cling on until we come out of recession, by which time I should have an established trading history and a good credit rating, and that’s when I hope to be able to make some money at it, still not a fortune but enough for me to be able to run things from home and give my girlfriend a part-time job.
My boys are 14 now, and I would also hope to be able to give them work experience a few years down the line, maybe put them through their driving tests etc.
Or I might go bust first, I’m fully aware of that and I’m not afraid of it. Far, far better people than myself have tried to run a truck in the past and had their fingers badly burned. So I wouldn’t feel any shame if it didn’t work out for me.
One thing I can absolutely guarantee is that if I did go bust, I would never once think “I wish I hadn’t done that”, whereas once I had formed the idea, if I then bottled out I would regret that for the rest of my life. Whether it works out or not, I will remember 2012 forever!
good on yer harry
I’ve always respected your attitude to being an o/d as you seem to have the nuts and bolts screwed down
Harry Monk:
bald bloke:
I work for a company paying decent wage driving decent kit with decent terms and conditionsI run my own truck, and there’s a living to be made at it, but not much more than that. However, it is more satisfying in other ways.
Two pieces of advice I’d always give to anyone asking about going O/D…
1). If you are in Baldbloke’s situation, as above, then stick with that.
2). Don’t ever risk your family home for a truck.
What about a little 3.5 tonner though Harry surely set up costs on that would be reasonably sensible ?
bald bloke:
What about a little 3.5 tonner though Harry surely set up costs on that would be reasonably sensible ?
I’ve got no experience of that, but it would have to be far, far cheaper, probably best to start a new thread on the Owner and Fleet Operators forum and ask there…
Just a short anecdote of my short spell as an o/d.
Along with several other drivers when I worked for Vic Wild 40 years ago,took up his offer of backing individuals to be o/d’s.
For a rental charge he supplied a truck and trailer,(Mk.2 Atki with a 40’ York flat/coil carrier),and 4 new sheets and ropes.
He would sub work to us,but half his work at that time was second hand anyway,and he would let you find your own work and he would “Process” it for a small percentage.Your rental included parking at his yard,maintenance,and at the end of every month you got the balance of your earnings less rent and diesel.
With having offices all over the country it seemed like a good idea and many of us went for it.
Vic backed your application for your operators licence and all would be well…
I did one load that was good and clean and I knew it paid well,a full load of palletised soap powder,(on a flat trailer,almost as high as today’s double deckers),from Port Sunlight to Bodmin.This was through his Exeter,(Tancocks) office.
When I got my payment through at the end of the month,I looked that job up particularly,and what I was paid only just covered the diesel!.
I got my transport manager,('er indoors),to ring Levers accounts office and ask them what they paid Tancocks and tell them what I had been paid as a subbie.
They were not happy,I had been paid just 50% of the full rate!
The next time I saw the manager at Exeter he said he didn’t think I would do a trick like that,contacting the sender,he was in danger of losing the work altogether.
At that time,English China Clay had on office and an out based truck in Newcastle,and the driver lived round the corner from me and told me to pop into their office,which I did.
Oh boy,was that a good move.
ECC could load me from anywhere down to Cornwall,then always palletised china clay back up this way,at very good rates,and they insisted on paying me direct,they would NOT pay anyone else for work done by me.
At that time,I was just waiting for one of the new Atki’s with the 240 Gardner,when Gardners went on strike and everything dried up,so Vic Wild told Gardners to stick 'em,and went and bought two new DAF 2600’s,and I had the first one.
With a good fast motor and plenty of good paying work,(Even Vic Wild could not get direct work from ECC),I was having a good month,until Vic Wild realised I was not putting any delivery notes into his office.
He demanded I put all my work through his office,and I told him my client would not pay anyone but me.so I kept out of the yard as much as possible for a couple of weeks.
Then I found he had put the word out to all his depots,“Don’t give Ian Taylor any diesel!”
I countered this by tanking up at EEC in Cornwall against my account,but I could not carry enough for long round trips so I was having to pay cash,(I don’t know of anyone who had a credit card back then).
I could see it was not going to last on this basis,so I was trying to get a bank loan to buy my own truck,the Volvo F88 had just come on line at £7.500,and Hartshornes would give me £500 discount that I could use as the deposit!
All I wanted was another £500 to run for a month until I got some earnings in.
If only you could get credit then like you can now…
The bank manager said I obviously new my job as I was in the black all the time,but he insisted on the deeds to my house against £500! No ■■■■■■■ chance!
The following week,Vic Wild caught me and told me to pay up or park up,so I left the rig in the middle of the yard and that was it.
Vic died several years ago when he was just 70,all the money he was coining out of blokes did him a lot of good didn’t it?.
This was my georgious DAF.
That windscreen looks like a decent bug catcher at least
Did it have a bunk ? did it even have a heater ■■ I can probably guess it never had a night heater tho !!! ■■■■■■■■ baby