I am driving nearly 5 years and now have an opportunity to go self employed. I have all my costs/expensive s mapped out but what I charge is the problem.
I respect people are not going to put up what they are getting paid, but if someone can pm me what reasonably rates are it would be great.
I will be running a scania R420
Thanks
Matt
self employed as a driver or owner driver?
owner driver.
What you can charge depends on what type of work, were you are, distance etc. What you need to charge is slightly different your costs plus a proportion for truck replacement plus a profit that gives you more than a wage, now whether you will get those 2 things rates to match each other is a different ball game!
I can’t PM because I’m on pre-mod but as a rough rule of thumb, for my own long-distance work I quote 4-5 times the cost of the fuel.
Thanks for the answers.
Thats helpful Harry and a good rule of thumb.
Harry Monk:
I can’t PM because I’m on pre-mod but as a rough rule of thumb, for my own long-distance work I quote 4-5 times the cost of the fuel.
What on gregorys ■■
So argument sake bristol to leeds roundtrip
Approx 400 miles 8mpg at £5.25 gallon
£260
Over £1000 roundtrip at 4 times
I know quite a few o/d pulling for gregorys and done some adhoc myself
And can say they dont pay 4/5 times the cost of fuel
If it other customers your wuoting that to bet you dont get offered many loads unless they totally in it and it red hot urgunt
Mat remember to cost your truck/trailer in properly
Surprising how many od ive talked who dont as theyve paid cash for it etc
And think are earning a good living but not factored cost of truck repairs or replacement in
Self Employed or O/D?
I have no experience of O/D but I can shed some light on Self Employed driver if you like.
It depends on what work you’re doing and where. I charge different rates depending on the work and hours.
youou know all your costs etc as you stated you know how much to charge already. If you need £450 a week for your overheads then you need to charge £450+ whatever profit you are comfortable with.
Be realistic, no one is going to pay you £700 a week for 40 hours and you’ll not get £50 a night out.
gettin-on:
Harry Monk:
I can’t PM because I’m on pre-mod but as a rough rule of thumb, for my own long-distance work I quote 4-5 times the cost of the fuel.What on gregorys ■■
No, for my own work. Obviously the rate any sub-contracting work, including Gregory’s, is dictated by them, not me.
Harry Monk:
gettin-on:
Harry Monk:
I can’t PM because I’m on pre-mod but as a rough rule of thumb, for my own long-distance work I quote 4-5 times the cost of the fuel.What on gregorys ■■
No, for my own work. Obviously the rate any sub-contracting work, including Gregory’s, is dictated by them, not me.
Ok so for the sake of anybody taking your initial advice of quoting 4x the cost of the fuel needed to do the job, how many times have your quoted rates been accepted for a job?
I don’t mean specifics, just a simple answer to a simple question.
OK, the simple answer is five times in 15 months.
A slightly more complicated answer is that I don’t get the vast majority of work I quote on because “You’re too expensive”. But then there’s little point in quoting cheaper if it only means earning a small amount more than spending another stress-free week bimbling around pulling a brown & yellow trailer, letting other people deal with the problems. I look on that as my bread and butter work, and my own work as being the jam, obviously I’d prefer a bit less bread and butter and a bit more jam but I don’t go after work on the basis of being cheap.
What other people quote is up to them, perhaps you might care to give general rule-of-thumb guidance to the OP, I’d be interested to see how that differed to mine.
The OP is looking at bread and butter, unless they’re fortunate enough to have permanent ‘jam’ work.
I’m sure there will come a time when you get offered an astronomical rate from Gregorys because you’re in the right place at the right time, but it is not normal, so it won’t answer the OP’s questions.
Out of curiosity, were they specialist jobs or last minute rush jobs?
last minute panic jobs was where I could stick up my prices… didn’t happen much though shame that… 
Thanks for the information all.
If I was to quote 3 times cost of fuel, do ye this this is a good price and enough for me to get regular work?
Matt32:
Thanks for the information all.If I was to quote 3 times cost of fuel, do ye this this is a good price and enough for me to get regular work?
Don’t think that would wash. i work for largish company and would say fuel is between 35 and 40% of cost. Take everyones advice keep out of haulage there is absolutley nothing to be made owning your own vehicle, work for someone else if you can earn over £22k per year for not too much work you will be better off than owning your own vehicle which will be a money pit. if you buy new you will wonder where all the cost is then when first mot first set of tyres first insurance and tax renewal come up you will think where do i find all that cash! trust me been there done it got tee shirt and so have a fair few of the good gentlemen on here trying to point you in the right direction. The guys getting 3 and 4 times fuel must be on special work that either requires specialist equipment or work that is very infrequent.
the old timer:
Matt32:
Thanks for the information all.If I was to quote 3 times cost of fuel, do ye this this is a good price and enough for me to get regular work?
Don’t think that would wash. i work for largish company and would say fuel is between 35 and 40% of cost. Take everyones advice keep out of haulage there is absolutley nothing to be made owning your own vehicle, work for someone else if you can earn over £22k per year for not too much work you will be better off than owning your own vehicle which will be a money pit. if you buy new you will wonder where all the cost is then when first mot first set of tyres first insurance and tax renewal come up you will think where do i find all that cash! trust me been there done it got tee shirt and so have a fair few of the good gentlemen on here trying to point you in the right direction. The guys getting 3 and 4 times fuel must be on special work that either requires specialist equipment or work that is very infrequent.
Alternatively they’re not on that all once they wake up.
Not at all ■■■■ but, local work is the key to profit imho. Certainly at the moment.
Also bear in mind breakdowns, jobs going ■■■’s up, etc then at least you’re not 100’s of miles from home and have a better and more cost effective position to remedy them.
Better if you’re near your local garage than being far away in foreign teritory at the mercy of some unsympathetic garage who’d “stripe you up” as you’ve no other option.
Containers, taut’s, etc are much the same for o/d’s as far as sourcing work goes. In other words if your imagination only stretches as far as “Subbing” £1.30 p/mile traction from the major haulage firms and not seeking your own, direct business, then you’re in for a bumpy, cash free ride.
Imho, of course. 
When I quote it’s a mix of day rate, fuel , how hard the wagon is working ,how quick I’m gonna get paid and if I like the custermer or not,
Strawgalore:
When I quote it’s a mix of day rate, fuel , how hard the wagon is working ,how quick I’m gonna get paid and if I like the custermer or not,
^This.
I need to see £350 per day plus fuel and that profit thingy.
It really doesn’t matter how it’s dressed up and sold to the customer, if you’re not in excess of these (in principal, yours will vary from mine) then you’ll lose money and go under its that simple.