Hi Driver’s hope all is well and everyone is keeping safe…
Now me and my Dad are going to probably next year starting our own Family run haulage firm my dads got 20+ Experience trucking, He used to work for John Mann many years ago when they used to go to morocco and places like that, now i recently looked at the RHA for mileage rates and i found a document but one of the things to factor into the mileage rate was “Overhead per Vehicle” Can anyone please advise me on what an Overhead per Vehicle is? and why you factor this in we have already got so far:-
Drivers Wage
Office Wage
Depreciation
Good’s In Transit
Public Liability
Vehicle Insurance
Fuel
Tyres
Repairs & Maintenance.
We have sorted those out but it is this OVERHEAD PER VEHICLE that is confusing us now the RHA says the average spend for the overhead is £24,000.00
So if anyone can tell me please what it is and is £24K a realistic value?
Thank you Guys & Girls 
Safe Trucking to you…
Jordan
Sounds like BS speak to me. Usually the overhead would be the total cost of running a wagon, I may be wrong.
You’ve missed out wagon repayment in you cost list unless the Scania fairy is giving you a free truck.
Silver_Surfer:
Sounds like BS speak to me. Usually the overhead would be the total cost of running a wagon, I may be wrong.
You’ve missed out wagon repayment in you cost list unless the Scania fairy is giving you a free truck.
Morning Mate,
We will we buying a truck straight out with our funds, which will probably be a VOLVO FH…
Thank you for your reply
Have a nice day and drive safely if your trucking today
Jordan 
I would think overheads would be your fixed costs, which would cover most of the stuff you’ve got plus VED, rental of premises and I also include the inspections and annual test into fixed cost as the are on a time factor as opposed to mileage, but put maintenance into running costs.
JORDYLLOYD:
Hi Driver’s hope all is well and everyone is keeping safe…
Now me and my Dad are going to probably next year starting our own Family run haulage firm my dads got 20+ Experience trucking, He used to work for John Mann many years ago when they used to go to morocco and places like that, now i recently looked at the RHA for mileage rates and i found a document but one of the things to factor into the mileage rate was “Overhead per Vehicle” Can anyone please advise me on what an Overhead per Vehicle is? and why you factor this in we have already got so far:-
Drivers Wage
Office Wage
Depreciation
Good’s In Transit
Public Liability
Vehicle Insurance
Fuel
Tyres
Repairs & Maintenance.
We have sorted those out but it is this OVERHEAD PER VEHICLE that is confusing us now the RHA says the average spend for the overhead is £24,000.00
So if anyone can tell me please what it is and is £24K a realistic value?
Thank you Guys & Girls Safe Trucking to you…
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
In your list above, you don’t seem to have factored in any cost/wages for a Transport Manager.
(Unless this is ‘office wages’ ■■)
Having a qualified Transport Manager is one of the most important of issues relating to legal compliance, which you’ll certainly need to consider if you hope to obtain and keep an ‘O’ licence.
Do you have a qualified Transport Manager in mind, or are you or your father going to take an Operator CPC course?
The other item that you might have missed from your list is VED (road tax) as already mentioned by muckles.
dieseldave:
JORDYLLOYD:
Hi Driver’s hope all is well and everyone is keeping safe…
Now me and my Dad are going to probably next year starting our own Family run haulage firm my dads got 20+ Experience trucking, He used to work for John Mann many years ago when they used to go to morocco and places like that, now i recently looked at the RHA for mileage rates and i found a document but one of the things to factor into the mileage rate was “Overhead per Vehicle” Can anyone please advise me on what an Overhead per Vehicle is? and why you factor this in we have already got so far:-
Drivers Wage
Office Wage
Depreciation
Good’s In Transit
Public Liability
Vehicle Insurance
Fuel
Tyres
Repairs & Maintenance.
We have sorted those out but it is this OVERHEAD PER VEHICLE that is confusing us now the RHA says the average spend for the overhead is £24,000.00
So if anyone can tell me please what it is and is £24K a realistic value?
Thank you Guys & Girls Safe Trucking to you…
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
In your list above, you don’t seem to have factored in any cost/wages for a Transport Manager.
(Unless this is ‘office wages’ ■■)
Having a qualified Transport Manager is one of the most important of issues relating to legal compliance, which you’ll certainly need to consider if you hope to obtain and keep an ‘O’ licence.
Do you have a qualified Transport Manager in mind, or are you or your father going to take an Operator CPC course?
The other item that you might have missed from your list is VED (road tax) as already mentioned by muckles.
I will be doing the Operator’s CPC mate
and I will put VED onto the list now thank’s
Add to your list the cost of premises and inspections/servicing. not forgetting your I think (12?) grand in the bank.
Overhead per vehicle will be all your fixed costs that you have to pay regardless of whether the vehicle moves or not Divided by the number of vehicles in the fleet. ie sharing those fixed costs. It would be as well to add in a contingency fund for unexpected expenses to these fixed costs. There does not appear to be any allowance either for the cost of any money that you may have to borrow.
Can I ask…have you got Work, from direct customers lined up or do you intend on subbing work…and is it only One truck ?, and set up a holding company to “lease” the truck to one of you to drive, then if it goes wrong only one of you loses everything and the truck is still yours to sell at the end .
Its a Very Very brave thing to do at the moment, especially with the changing of cabotage rules bringing more foreigners over to push the rates down soon.
Personally last week I spoke to 2 Irish lads from Belfast who were running their own units and flat trailers for £1.42 per mile…seemingly a normal rate in NI at present.
Good luck because I reckon you need to be on £2.20 per mile depending on the miles and type of work etc etc .
There will be those along saying I am a doom monger…but lots of us have been there !
3 wheeler:
Can I ask…have you got Work, from direct customers lined up or do you intend on subbing work…and is it only One truck ?, and set up a holding company to “lease” the truck to one of you to drive, then if it goes wrong only one of you loses everything and the truck is still yours to sell at the end .
Its a Very Very brave thing to do at the moment, especially with the changing of cabotage rules bringing more foreigners over to push the rates down soon.
Personally last week I spoke to 2 Irish lads from Belfast who were running their own units and flat trailers for £1.42 per mile…seemingly a normal rate in NI at present.
Good luck because I reckon you need to be on £2.20 per mile depending on the miles and type of work etc etc .
There will be those along saying I am a doom monger…but lots of us have been there !
The work is on the fridges and we have a customer in the UK as well as a customer in Italy who took great interest in using us as he is a close family friend.
we have the funds to buy a the unit, but we would have to hire/or finance for the trailer.
JORDYLLOYD:
3 wheeler:
Can I ask…have you got Work, from direct customers lined up or do you intend on subbing work…and is it only One truck ?, and set up a holding company to “lease” the truck to one of you to drive, then if it goes wrong only one of you loses everything and the truck is still yours to sell at the end .
Its a Very Very brave thing to do at the moment, especially with the changing of cabotage rules bringing more foreigners over to push the rates down soon.
Personally last week I spoke to 2 Irish lads from Belfast who were running their own units and flat trailers for £1.42 per mile…seemingly a normal rate in NI at present.
Good luck because I reckon you need to be on £2.20 per mile depending on the miles and type of work etc etc .
There will be those along saying I am a doom monger…but lots of us have been there !
The work is on the fridges and we have a customer in the UK as well as a customer in Italy who took great interest in using us as he is a close family friend.
we have the funds to buy a the unit, but we would have to hire/or finance for the trailer.
So I take it you are going to double cab the trips for a quick turnaround ?
How many loads out a month and back ?
As you will have to fill your time up in between.
That is a brave move as there are foreign companies willing to do return fridge loads to Italy for the princely sum of £ 750 from what I hear on the grapevine…and thats because our sandal wearing friends want to get nearer home and just cover costs.
You still need to include the wagon cost as a repayment to factor in to your costs, you can’t just give your business a cash gift!
You’ve got the first & most important hurdle covered & that is:- it’s who you know. Least you’re not the usual in here looking at containers for a start!
If I was you I’d just find out what he’ll pay you & put it on here, then those in the know can tell you if it’s a decent rate or not. Obviously be vague with the locations. I’d also want to know if he has the work under contract, how long does the contract run for, what will you do if he loses the work?
Try & get paid on 30 days or less as if your mate goes bankrupt & he owes you 2/3 months money…
I would also insure my invoices against non payment but then I am paranoid.
Silver_Surfer:
You still need to include the wagon cost as a repayment to factor in to your costs, you can’t just give your business a cash gift!
You’ve got the first & most important hurdle covered & that is:- it’s who you know. Least you’re not the usual in here looking at containers for a start!
If I was you I’d just find out what he’ll pay you & put it on here, then those in the know can tell you if it’s a decent rate or not. Obviously be vague with the locations. I’d also want to know if he has the work under contract, how long does the contract run for, what will you do if he loses the work?
Try & get paid on 30 days or less as if your mate goes bankrupt & he owes you 2/3 months money…
I would also insure my invoices against non payment but then I am paranoid.
Is that still competitive ? …I would have thought the percentages were to high to bother nowadays, just do your homework and do NOT let let invoices owed level get to high or go over and agreed level…and be ■■■■ about collecting it.
I’ve only run for T & blue chips so not had to do it myself. If I was running for smaller firms I’d look in to it.
Hi Jordan
There is some great advice on here and i’m glad to see its not all negative.
It is a very brave move. I made this move 14 years ago and now run a fleet of 30 trucks. It’s been a long hard slog and i’ve got to say it was harder running one and two than it is running 30.
In my early days on trips to Italy I did costing for every trip with the rate at the top and all the costs below, that way you aren’t waiting until the end of the month to find out if you have lost/made a profit.
Please make sure that they guy who is going to sub you the work is financially sound, I’ve seen many a hard working owner driver loose everything when they haven’t been paid.
I’m sure everybody is wishing you good luck on your business but please tread carefully.
Good luck.
One quick tip.
If you’re outsourcing your maintenance and repairs make sure you get an accurate record.
A good friend fell foul of VOSA because his garage (a reputable long established family run company) were telling him his motors has passed their MOT first time when it fact they hadn’t. This affected his OCRS and led eventually to a PI and his having a reduction to his O licence.
It’s something that is easily overlooked and can impact on you massively.