carpboy do your sums get the best lorry you can within your budget ,talk to as many people as you can about your plans, be enthusiastic, go for it mate…trust your instincts and remember MISERY ALWAYS SEEKS COMPANY
Giblsa and Carpboy
Sorry, but how green you are, if only it was that easy!
As a container/traction haulier of over 30 years and an operator of 30-50 vehicles throughout the last
25, that sort of money isnt in the job anymore.
I work first handed for all the big companies and getting enough work each and every week is a big
problem.
Working six days a week? Well most of your Saturdays would be spent running in from Fridays job
and that doesn’t produce a sixth days revenue.
From what I’ve read on here Maritime charge such an outrageous price for their trucks you’ll never
make it pay, and remember about this priority work thing, you’ll join the end of the queue, and
never lose sight of the fact they operate their own fleet, first and foremost.
The attraction remains with these deals is that the big haulier ‘looks after you’ believe me they
do only in a far different way.
As an operator of solely new trucks for many years, I’ve recently taken advantage of buying some
second hand motors, i.e. 06 reg DAF SSC 6x2’s with under 280K’s on the clock for £18000 and
06 reg MAN XXL’s much the same. At prices like that I might stand a chance in today’s market
of earning a couple of quid, still not guaranteed by the time you maintain them.
Just be aware and take what you are told by these people with a pinch of salt.
Be careful out there.
K
Tom Cole and Matt Heath…
Tom is the lure them in and Matt sells em the trucks…
I was going to do this a few years ago, wanted the big truck, decent wage thing, so wife and myself went to Tilbury to meet these guys and discuss the options they offered, now my wife works with money all day, she is a high flyer in the banking world, she sat there all quiet while they went through the figures, then she tied em up in knots, needless to say we never from them again 
My advice is do what I did and look more at a mixer or tipper, on Hansons, Lafarge etc, home every night, decent hours, smaller outlays in fuel, tax and ins… And a rather nice living out of it (Well it was before the recession began) but I know the lads are struggling at the moment…
Would I go OD again? Yes I would, but it would only be a niche market, with a reliable and trusted small firm, few and far between now though.
globby 480:
well hopefully in four years you may have grown up!!! and maybe left school
What do you mean by that?
knowall:
As an operator of solely new trucks for many years, I’ve recently taken advantage of buying some second hand motors, i.e. 06 reg DAF SSC 6x2’s with under 280K’s on the clock for £18000 and 06 reg MAN XXL’s much the same. At prices like that I might stand a chance in today’s market of earning a couple of quid, still not guaranteed by the time you maintain them.
That is what I am looking at doing hopefully, the maritime thing was an option but after what has been said on this website and others and also having a good old chat with shuttlespanker on the phone I am wandering away from that now. (Cheers for the words of advice matey)
I’m guessing (and others have echoed this) that I would be better buying a truck outright if I can and then trying to make it work rather than paying £50k+ on a unit and having to make the payments on it. At least you don’t need to worry then about the wagon being repossessed if it does go Pete Tong. Just need someone that knows what to look for in a wagon when buying it to come with me to point out the good and bad things and what to check on them (it’s no good just doing a daily walk round if you’re buying it to earn a living is it? (I guess you learn this with experience).
MR VAIN:
The only thing that really seemed un realistic there is the wages mate. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and that ain’t it. You’ve got some serious earning to do at those costs. I’m not peeing on yr plans, just saying, keep goin, some of us might learn something!
I know I’m not going to make a fortune doing it and all I want is to be able to live doing it, maybe a comfortable life but I aint going to be buying Richard branson out doing it but if I can keep the wolf from the door and have the chance to treat the wife to nice things now and again I’m happy. Plus I’m very lucky that I will have my forces pension that will pay the rent and bills (or most of them) so anything I earn will be put back into the business (or used to repair things) or saved for when it does get a bit harder.
Thanks for all the advice fella’s and we will see what happens in the next 4 years…
If you thing of anymore advice then let me know
thanks to everyone who has warned me about maritime,i did infact find matt heath very hard to talk too 
it felt that he was trying to block certain questions i was asking on the other hand tom cole was helpful but i guess thats what thay do (good cop bad cop) ow well back to the drawing board this hgv driving is pain in the aiiiiiiirrrrrrhhhhhhhooorrrnnnnnnn i think its time for me to throw in the towel and go and do something else im already bald through the stress of hgvs i cant lose any more hair i will always remember somthing my brother inlaws dad said he is a retired hgv driver been doing it 40 years the day i passed my class 1 he said to me well done for passing but its not easy outhere you will all ways wonder why you botherd and he is spot on.to all the drivers outhere KEEP ON TRUCKING thanks lads you have been a great help.
There is one sure fire way to make a small fortune from running your own lorry, you need to start off with a large fortune 
Seriously though, the best way to do it would be to get a job at a company that does the same work that you would do with your own lorry & work out if you would be making money if it was your own lorry, keep track of revenue earned in real time, not just empty promises from a slimy salesperson, work out your actual running costs as you do the job, add them to your fixed costs, subtract from the gross earnings & see what’s left, if it’s making money, go for it, if not then give it a miss.
At the current margins in transport it is very difficult to make money if you’re paying out interest on everything you use to earn your money, you say ‘silly’ things like a CF Daf isn’t big enough to be away in all week, well it is, if you’re like most people you sleep laying down, so why do you need a supermegatoptrotter? If you’re an owner operator you’re a businessman first & foremost so you’re number 1 priority is making money & a 15k CF will earn you more money than a 50k XF SSC, if however you just want to have a chromed up mobile xmas tree with your name on the door, well you’re in for a shock & a lot of red ink on your bank statements 
You can have the all singing, all dancing lorry, you just need to work at it & be a successful businessman for a few years to be able to afford it, remember you have to walk before you can run 
newmercman:
If you’re an owner operator you’re a businessman first & foremost so you’re number 1 priority is making money & a 15k CF will earn you more money than a 50k XF SSC, if however you just want to have a chromed up mobile xmas tree with your name on the door, well you’re in for a shock & a lot of red ink on your bank statements
Too right. The company I’m driving for at the moment on bulk tipping work have a few nearly new 105XFs on lease (probably costing them in the region of 15k a year) and one 04 plate 85CF they’ve just bought second hand for under 10 grand. The CF, being smaller and lighter, will take over a ton of extra payload compared to the XFs, which works out to something like an extra 4 grand in earnings over a typical year.
This illustrates something which to me which is a no brainer - if you’re starting up yourself then, for the first year or two at least, forget the luxuries, go for the route to most profit. It might not be much fun doing nights out in a low roof CF, but for an extra 4 grand a year it’s worth putting up with it until you’ve found your feet. A couple of years down the line when you’ve (hopefully) got a few grand in the bank as a safety net then you can get something nicer.
Paul