Hi gents,
Little about my self. My name is James, could probably guess from my username 
.
I’m 22, living in Falkirk/Scotland and currently working as a plant fitter.
I’m single and still living at home with my parents.
I’m 5 minutes from grangemouth dock yard.
My father is a lorry driver, has been for around 30 years and this is where I got my interest
I have a good interest in lorries and when serving my time as a plant fitter my plan was always to get my HGV license once I was time served. Ive been a year time served and still have plans to get my HGV but my plan has slightly changed. Seeing on the likes of eBay the price of a unit and a skeletal I wouldn’t mind going it at my self.
Being the age I am just now I ‘think’ this would be an ideal time to take the risk, get my HGV, get a unit and skeletal and give it 110%.
Whats your opinion?
If you say its a bad idea could you please include your reasoning’s as to why its a bad idea
Thanks
James
Costs man. You can’t just rock up in a unit now and expect work. You need a place to keep it, you need a maintance contract, insurance, contacts etc. Not to mention you’ll need a TM CPC plus other things. This is of course on top of the cost of the unit. You’ll have to take into account fuel costs which thankfully are going down.
What happenes if you have a blow out on the M62? That fitter is going to cost you, do you have the cash to pay for that before you get paid for the job you are on? As a company man all you do is call the office, they sort it out, fitter comes out, the company gets billed and you are on your way again.
However, I do see the lure of owning your own wagon. Something that no one else is allowed to drive so no nasty suprises to greet you after a hoilday. You can do whatever the hell you want to it as long as its still legal(ish). You to choose exactly what extras are in there, no begging and pleading a TM for a microwave.
There is another way of doing it but that is without owning a unit and that is subbing yourself out as just a driver. There is one guy at our place that does this. He’s on better money than us yet still gets all the office “support” that the company drivers get. He’s been assigned a wagon and its a pretty good one too, not the old nail that no one wants to drive.
Better of posting in the owner drivers forum.All you need to know will be there.
Radar19:
Costs man. You can’t just rock up in a unit now and expect work. You need a place to keep it, you need a maintance contract, insurance, contacts etc. Not to mention you’ll need a TM CPC plus other things. This is of course on top of the cost of the unit. You’ll have to take into account fuel costs which thankfully are going down.
What happenes if you have a blow out on the M62? That fitter is going to cost you, do you have the cash to pay for that before you get paid for the job you are on? As a company man all you do is call the office, they sort it out, fitter comes out, the company gets billed and you are on your way again.
Am I right in sayin that after the unit and trailer is bought I need to have access to 7-10 grand in the bank or something along those lines to cover these sort of costs? Fuel, tyres etc. also how does it work in the regard to maintenance and servicing? Is this something I can do myself and just get the unit and trailer checked over in the same respect as a car MOT of course shorter time scale than yearly.
However, I do see the lure of owning your own wagon. Something that no one else is allowed to drive so no nasty suprises to greet you after a hoilday. You can do whatever the hell you want to it as long as its still legal(ish). You to choose exactly what extras are in there, no begging and pleading a TM for a microwave.
There is another way of doing it but that is without owning a unit and that is subbing yourself out as just a driver. There is one guy at our place that does this. He’s on better money than us yet still gets all the office “support” that the company drivers get. He’s been assigned a wagon and its a pretty good one too, not the old nail that no one wants to drive. Subbing my self out isn’t something that takes my fancy, my initial thinking is id like to make a name for myself
If this is in the wrong section could a mod please move it to the correct one.
Thanks