My experience of being an Owner Driver

[megaspacedout]

Having read all the questions regarding whether it is worth it to be an owner driver i thought i would post a breakdown of my own costs to illustrate and support what others are saying about the need for at least £1.50/mile.

Currently companies are offering traction work out of Immingham at £1.13/mile.

Having spoken to these companies they claim their O/D are getting about 2k a week.

To achieve this money you would have to be doing 1750 miles a week and at a diesel price of £0.949/litre equates to a fuel cost of £803.87 per week excluding VAT.( 8mpg)

Therefore £1977.50 (1750 mile @£1.13)
less fuel £ 803.87
Balance £1173.63

My fixed costs per week are: (i have based my figures on 44 weeks providing for holidays,downtime and unforeseens.

Insurance £59.09 (£2600 per annum/44 weeks)
Road Tax £27.27 (£1200 per annum/44weeks)
Mainten £113.64 (allowed £5000/44weeks)
8 wk wages£136.36 (allowed £6000/44weeks)
Depreciation£113.64(allowed £5000/44weeks)

This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

The above figures are based on my own experience and other people may also have to factor in finance on the truck,payment to a CPC holder,Operating Centre lease etc etc .Plus diesel is due to go up a further 2p a litre which will ad a further £20/week or £86/month!!!

Hope this helps anyone who is considering being an Owner Driver. Believe me , i wish someone would have shown me these figures before i took the plunge.

Again the above figures are my own experience and others will have their own take on it, but i see trucks travelling the M1 everyday pulling tilts off the docks and i dont know how they survive

[paul_b]

good post that mate, now work it out on the 1500mile per week that they’re actually getting at most container firms less £100 a week trailer hire, plus extra insurance costs for GIT and a finance payment on a unit and see if it’s worth doing?

[denis_f]

94.9ppl diesel ? is that including VAT ?

[hoss]

94.9ppl for diesel plus vat really should be looking for another supplier

[routier]

megaspacedout:
Having read all the questions regarding whether it is worth it to be an owner driver i thought i would post a breakdown of my own costs to illustrate and support what others are saying about the need for at least £1.50/mile.

Currently companies are offering traction work out of Immingham at £1.13/mile.

Having spoken to these companies they claim their O/D are getting about 2k a week.

To achieve this money you would have to be doing 1750 miles a week and at a diesel price of £0.949/litre equates to a fuel cost of £803.87 per week excluding VAT.( 8mpg)

Therefore £1977.50 (1750 mile @£1.13)
less fuel £ 803.87
Balance £1173.63

My fixed costs per week are: (i have based my figures on 44 weeks providing for holidays,downtime and unforeseens.

Insurance £59.09 (£2600 per annum/44 weeks)
Road Tax £27.27 (£1200 per annum/44weeks)
Mainten £113.64 (allowed £5000/44weeks)
8 wk wages£136.36 (allowed £6000/44weeks)
Depreciation£113.64(allowed £5000/44weeks)

This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

The above figures are based on my own experience and other people may also have to factor in finance on the truck,payment to a CPC holder,Operating Centre lease etc etc .Plus diesel is due to go up a further 2p a litre which will ad a further £20/week or £86/month!!!

Hope this helps anyone who is considering being an Owner Driver. Believe me , i wish someone would have shown me these figures before i took the plunge.

Again the above figures are my own experience and others will have their own take on it, but i see trucks travelling the M1 everyday pulling tilts off the docks and i dont know how they survive

im sorry to hear that it has not transpired to be what you thought it was going to be. you do not mention in your costs :
accountant fees
trailer hire
parking fees
o licence fee ( over the year, its still a cost)
emergency repairs and breakdowns ( these are not included in maintenance costs which needs to be doen every 6 weeks)
stationary
mobile/ phone fees

oh and last but not least profit!!! i got a bit of a slating to say 2% profit must have been taken of the back of a cornflakes packet in another post but based on your figures you are making 0% profit.

if you had a truck repayment of £■■ per week you would be really strugglin.

you are makin a decent wage out of it by all accounts but is it worth the headache ? im sure you can make just as much being employed with a decent outfit plus all the benefits of sick pay/hol pay/pension etc
its your call but £1.50 per mile is really a realistic figure ods now need to be earning and this is whothout the expected fuel hike coming our way

[pop_larkin]

megaspacedout:
This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

Did an extra day for the agency last week to keep the customer happy, so 6 days, 3 of them 8 hours and 3 of them 10 hours. In the bank today £490. No unpaid admin or maintenance time, no dreading the next breakdown, no chasing the money and hoping it arrives before the bills and no depreciating asset that gets nearer needing replacement every day it’s used.

[big_truck]

Pop Larkin:

megaspacedout:
This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

Did an extra day for the agency last week to keep the customer happy, so 6 days, 3 of them 8 hours and 3 of them 10 hours. In the bank today £490. No unpaid admin or maintenance time, no dreading the next breakdown, no chasing the money and hoping it arrives before the bills and no depreciating asset that gets nearer needing replacement every day it’s used.

Fair enough comment,
but do you still think you will pull in £490 come the second week in January

[pop_larkin]

Big Truck:

Pop Larkin:

megaspacedout:
This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

Did an extra day for the agency last week to keep the customer happy, so 6 days, 3 of them 8 hours and 3 of them 10 hours. In the bank today £490. No unpaid admin or maintenance time, no dreading the next breakdown, no chasing the money and hoping it arrives before the bills and no depreciating asset that gets nearer needing replacement every day it’s used.

Fair enough comment,
but do you still think you will pull in £490 come the second week in January

I will be as I’m on an on-going contract. The only change will be if I drop off the extra days I’m doing now to cover sickness.

I take the point though that a lot of agency drivers will be quiet during January. But then I know a lot of OD’s who have been in the past and will be in the future. Only difference is that I won’t have big monthly payments going out to keep a truck that’s not earning.

I’m not knocking anybody for wanting to be an OD. I was once. Started in 1974, saw the light in 1979 purely by accident and sold it. I’m still convinced that for me at any rate it was the right choice.
Apart from the financial side, when my day is finished, it is really finished. Weekends are mine and not the trucks. When I want time off, I just take it, whether it’s a day, a week or a month. I don’t need to find a driver, or worry about customers, or have the overheads.

[paul_b]

Hoss:
94.9ppl for diesel plus vat really should be looking for another supplier

if you look the total is less vat
just a word on the famous 2% that is of coarse 2% profit after all the directors have taken their 100k wages, the firms bought ten new units and twenty trailers!
think i’d like some of that 2% arrangement

[fuse]

i have been one 25 years now ,i was told i would not be ritch but betteroff than than working for somone/that is about right.look after truck.dont fly about, you just go up your own arse, run legal then no pressure,i find overtime when wife gets wall papper out .appart from some of the silly rules comming out i still enjoy it

[harry]

I had a Swiss reg truck twenty years ago & was getting £1 a mile & it was still rubbish to be an O/D. Luckily I had the same accidental good luck as Pop Larkin & got out while I had the chance.

[megaspacedout]

I can breathe a sigh of relief!!

Had my unit for sale for the last 2 months and today its finally gone.

Total mixed emotion really- happy to see it gone and i have not lost that much on the residual but sad that i could not make a go of it.

Haulage gets into the blood,what other careers can you say does that!!

Somebody is making a lot of money out of this industry - and we know they live in London

[porkifer]

i think everybody i forgetting the all important job satisfaction part , and the no idiots messing me about a friday afternoon !!,
i agree i could probably earn more if i sold my soul to the big players but i dont want to , and i can change to whatever i want to anytime i want to , like now i am just arranging some spanish work for a month before dropping back onto the traction work i am doing now just because i can and i enjoy the change

[routier]

Big Truck:

Pop Larkin:

megaspacedout:
This provides a Gross Income of £723.63/week which after tax equates to about £500/week in the pocket.

Did an extra day for the agency last week to keep the customer happy, so 6 days, 3 of them 8 hours and 3 of them 10 hours. In the bank today £490. No unpaid admin or maintenance time, no dreading the next breakdown, no chasing the money and hoping it arrives before the bills and no depreciating asset that gets nearer needing replacement every day it’s used.

Fair enough comment,
but do you still think you will pull in £490 come the second week in January

Fair comment but will You ? Will the majority of ODs ?

January is a dreaded month for most ODs and small hauliers after the Xmas rush etc, unless, and Im sure you are, one of the sensible ones in a niche and the January blues will have no effect on your business

However for the most ODs doin General haulage/Containers/Fridges/traction etc its very quiet. You still have however your overheads to pay.

[routier]

porkifer:
i think everybody i forgetting the all important job satisfaction part

Sorry, dont agree, Satisfaction doesnt help pay your bills and overheads, People get out of bed and do whatever they do to Earn Money to enhance and enrich their lives and their family and to give their children a better chance in life, they dont do it for satisfaction!!!

[routier]

paul b:

Hoss:
94.9ppl for diesel plus vat really should be looking for another supplier

if you look the total is less vat
just a word on the famous 2% that is of coarse 2% profit after all the directors have taken their 100k wages, the firms bought ten new units and twenty trailers!
think i’d like some of that 2% arrangement

Yes wouldnt we all, but then you would have to turnover at least £20 Million I reckon to get that !!!

[marcustandy]

routier:

porkifer:
i think everybody i forgetting the all important job satisfaction part

Sorry, dont agree, Satisfaction doesnt help pay your bills and overheads, People get out of bed and do whatever they do to Earn Money to enhance and enrich their lives and their family and to give their children a better chance in life, they dont do it for satisfaction!!!

I know of a few examples that contradict your thinking.

A friend of mine (former work colleague) has recently returned from 3 years in Iraq doing CP work (Close Protection). He was earning between £4.5k and £7k per month but has binned it for 2 main reasons, 1of which is he said he just didn’t enjoy the job anymore; boring and no job satisfaction.

He has always fancied running his own business and being his own boss and feels this is where he will find his ‘satisfaction’. Consequently, he is now looking at a number of franchise opportunities (none transport related!), focusing more on how much he’d enjoy it rather than looking for the best return franchise.

I’d say that he is a prime example of ‘satisfaction’ being more important than money.

[routier]

well obviously hes got a few quid if hes looking at buying a franchise, hes earnt circa £200,000 in 3 years probably Tax Free and can afford to do what he wants to do…

still disagree, try and tell that to a lot of people who are on the breadline that satisfaction is more important than money, I wonder what their answer would be… .

I would love to give up what I do but cannot due to financial commitments…

If you have not many money troubles then yes I would agree with you but then Im not being realistic…

Lets put this question forward again in a few weeks when fuel has gone up and maybe interest rates too… Lest see how many are still doing the same job for the same money for satisfaction then

[paul_b]

i read these threads and hear hows this blokes not made it pay or how that bloke lost everything etc etc and really wonder what these people actually expected when they went out and bought a wagon, did they think that was it, job done, the phone would never stop ringing with costomers desperate to give them good paying work■■?
simple fact is if you’ve not got it about you to go out and sort work that’ll clear you a bare minimum of 8-900 quid a week then the harsh reality is you were never cut out to be either selfemployed or an o/d in the first place! i know a few see me as a bit arrogant with some of what i post but it really is, very very easy to go out and find something that’ll earn you that sort of money and more on a regular basis, IF your prepared to stop seeing your self as a driver who happens to own the wagon he’s driving and start looking at that wagon as a business that you control AND it’s down to you to make pay!
theres always lads who ask, what about so n so containers, they pay t’pence nothing a mile, will i make it pay? and someone will post a load of figures which are probably correct that shows quite clearly that you’ll only earn four hundred quid a week at best, but wheres the suprise? this box firm is basically running your business for you, all your doing is turning up on a monday morning and then driving a wagon up n down the road for five days! is that ever going to pay anymore than a basic wage■■?
i feel sorry for those who’s lost money and more, and some really have been unlucky, some have been proper shafted by people who don’t deserve the air that they breath but theres also a lot who’ve gone in with their eyes clossed and still had em shut when they came out the other end.

[megaspacedout]

Paul B.

I did not go into this with my eyes closed at all.

I did the figures two years ago and contacted various companies and could not make it pay so decided to shelve the idea.

Then this year a local haulier contacted me,knowing i had my O licence and offered me in his words “loads of work” for at least £500 per day pulling his trailers.

I did the figures again, and yes based on this, there seemed to be a reasonable living to be had.

I was in the fortunate position to purchase a decent lorry out right and after many months of looking for a vehicle and rechecking the figures time and time again, thinking if i did not give it a try i will never know, i started working for said haulier.

First week was great ,second week there was only 4 days work,third week this went down to 3 days …you get the picture!

So there i am lorry parked up,no trailer and no work. Got on the phone and started ringing round looking for traction only work. Speed Cargo £1.04/mile, Glass out of Goole £1.10/mile,Morrisons at Wakefield £305/shift etc etc all crap crap crap crap.

Yes i believe there is good work out there but without the contacts and without the trailer it is near impossible to get in.

What i cannot figure is that even established companies are providing traction work for this money - how are they able to pay a driver and make a profit?

There is a small haulier with about six units and his own skellys on for hanbury davies, parks up in their yard in Doncaster.

He must have about £120k ■■■■■■■ in his vehicles and is paying his drivers lets say £400/week*6 =£2400/week and is working for i presume £1.14/mile■■?

Please,please,please someone tell me how he does it