Hey all,
I have been offered help to get a unit etc.
But is it worth it to work for yourself? What are the costs involved? Is there anywhere that I can get a breakdown of real life running costs. I had a look at the sticky with costs but that made no real sense to me.
If it is worth while persuing what steps should i take?
I dont have a CPC so that would be step one unless I find a friendly person with one.
Thanks
Hi James, first step is to scroll through this site for a while, all of your questions have been answered at some point. Good luck.
JAMESR1; i AM NOT A O/D,however, how much experience have
you got and what sort of work have you done,tanks,silo,tilts etc
where are you thinking of working UK only or abroad if so you
need both CPC;s or some one who will do the job, how good are
is you cash balance as you need a certain amount,have you got
work lined up as it is stupid to get a unit and not have any work for it
the way the payment of the work is carried out you will need
get sorted out some people pay 30days ,others 90days,some will
pay up front when you present a clean freightnote-OR --CMR
but also take a percentage off for early payment,
YOU will get some more people posting as and when they get on line
and these O/D,s will give you their points and views ,
what ever it is not easy but as many will tell you they are happy
and content with what they are doing ,read and take in all what they
have to offer as their experienece will help you out a lot,
all the best,
Jamesrl - if you try www.motortransport.co.uk and go to cost tables you will find some very useful industry averages for cost planning.
Don’t let them scare you too much though !
Or even go two threads up where it says,
Unit/Trailer Operating Cost Tables 2006
Welcome to TNUK. 
Krankee:
Or even go two threads up where it says,Unit/Trailer Operating Cost Tables 2006
jamesrl:
I had a look at the sticky with costs but that made no real sense to me.
Ooops.
Should have read it better. 
TBH, if you can’t extract valid information from those tables, then perhaps it’s best to wait a while before investing your own hard earned monies.
Just do a search for Mars Bar 
You will learn more than the Motor Transport tables
thanks for the replies, but is it worth all the grief and hassles that owner drivers seem to have?
If you do it right there are very few hassles or much grief. It depends what you want out of it. Are you going to get rich? No, not at the current rates. Do you just want the satisfaction of being your own boss and making enough to pay all the work related bills and household expenses with a bit left over? Then it is possible. Will you make much more than you can as an employee or agency driver? Unlikely, unless you get some really good work.
To be honest from your posts on the subject so far I think you need to do a lot more research before you can even consider whether it is the thing for you or not.
Ok like what type of research?
i am most comfortable with container tramping. Is that the sort of thing?
just as a comment, the MT cost tables should be taken with a large pinch of salt - they are biased on the operator’s side of course and can be a bit over the top, though they’re useful for justifying hefty demurrage claims 
jamesr1, take your CPC exams, both of them, get reading
books which have been published by some of the UK best experts
david lowe , is one but take a look at kogan books, also there is another
good bookshop in somerset which is on the web,talk direct with
people who are running there own vehiicles,look at what work you are thinking
of doing,and see which vehicle is the one being used by most people
save your money up and ensure that if need be you will survive if the
people who you drive for dso not pay up,get written contracts, with claaues that allow for rises when the fuel costs rise or the ferry costs,some one will come on and post their poinzs hopefully as well, by the way be prepared to work MUCH MUCH harder than you have before, all the best what ever you do,
Thanks to eveyone that replied.
those cost tables really scared me.
I dont think i have the [zb] to take on such a huge undertaking yet.
I hope you all have great year
language edit …Denis F
brit pete:
jamesr1, take your CPC exams, both of them, get reading
books which have been published by some of the UK best experts
david lowe , is one but take a look at kogan books, also there is another
good bookshop in somerset which is on the web,talk direct with
people who are running there own vehiicles,look at what work you are thinking
of doing,and see which vehicle is the one being used by most people
save your money up and ensure that if need be you will survive if the
people who you drive for dso not pay up,get written contracts, with claaues that allow for rises when the fuel costs rise or the ferry costs,some one will come on and post their poinzs hopefully as well, by the way be prepared to work MUCH MUCH harder than you have before, all the best what ever you do,
I quite agree with brit pete about studying for, and taking your CPC exams. You will find that this answers a lot of your questions and gives you pointers for further areas of research. If you have ambition, don’t give up. All the best!
Jamesrl.
Having recommended the cost tables I must say they do need reading with a bit of Realism in mind, For instance writing down the vehicle in five years with no residual value and the huge amount (about the same as drivers wages) to cover the back office and other support overheads - suitale to apply to a 50 truck logistics company but not a one man operation.
Dont give up -take another look. Happy to help if needed.
I have been in haulage since being 21. For the first 12 months i had worked for various agencies and companys to build up some experiance driving. After the first year I gained my first lorry.
I am now 26 years old and own a brand new tipper which is franchised. I easily manage to pay a mortagage on a house over 200k, plus a brand new car. thats not bad for a 26 year old. I already have money put away for retirment which is growing each month.
I gained my second lorry last year which is a mixer, again franchised.
and also in the process of taking on another mixer and possably yet another tipper.
I think im lucky, I was encurraged to start in haulage at a young age due to my family which have been in the haulage industry all their lives, therefor i know some good contacts.
Having read through some of these posts on various topics throughout this forum i have noticed people saying how pay is low and in some cases people have said being an owner driver is not worth while and that you might only just make a profit.
if you dont know what you are doing then yes that can be the case but you have to try and make a sucsess out of it. Maybe the people saying that have failed being an owner driver… just because there experiance has been bad does not mean yours will be, so dont let them put you off.
Get a good contract look into it carfully once you have found one you should make a good wage with a good profit. there is plenty of money to be made as an owner driver dispite what some people on this forum say.
if you have your heart set on it then go for it the biggest mistake you could make is to rush into it.
Trucker 26
Thanks for the reply.
The franchise was that hauling blocks, or are there other franchises out there?
Can you point me in the right direction then please?
Thanks
If you don’t consider anything else,consider this.
Work out how much it will cost to set up your business. Truck,tax,insurance,'o’licence, operating centre,etc,etc,etc.
Not to mention all the cash you need to live on,while you wait two or three months to get paid. Put a figure on it and compare the return to what you would hav got if you had invested the cash.
I would suggest that if you’ve got enough money to buy and finance a truck, you would be safer to invest the money elswhere.
There are some OD’s who hack a reasonable living, but there are a damned many more who get their privates burned-big style. Give it plenty of thought buddy or repent at your leisure !
I can’t help but think that some of the reply’s on here with regards to questions re owner operator is it worth it etc are slightly negative.
Is it because you exsiting boys and girls are scared about the competion which might just prop up.
yes we know that it is expensive to start up but we also know that there is work out there if you hunt for it. nothing is easy in this poxy world if you want to make a go out of something and you have some people skills and can add up 1+1 you won’t go wrong.
believe me i was working in cafe for this ■■■■■■ of boss i slugged it out for 3 years getting all the info required to run a cafe. Saved all the money and now i got two cafes and my former boss is out of business. my next ambition is to run a truck watch out boys and girls