Hello. My name is Radu and I need some information if is possible please.
I had past my hgv test cat c(class 2) 2 months ago,i have digi card,driver card and cpc all sorted.
Unfortunately when I’m looking for a job I am told that i need experience 2 years at least.(hard to make experience when you can’t get a job with no experience).
I have decided to become a self employed owner driver.
Can you give some information:
What do i need to start working(except a lorry,insurance)?
Can you guide me where to start and maybe you can tell me how long this will take?
Any idea of the costs of becoming self employed owner driver(again except lory and insurance cost)?
Thank you for your time.
Thanx for the reply Harry Monk but this thread doesn’t help.
Did anyone start this self employed owner business from scratch?
There are several more threads on the owner driver forum in which the same question has been asked and answered in some detail over the years, so a search there might be fruitful. Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.
First off dont listen to all depressing negatives who will tell you not to bother. I started out with an old F7 (lucky 7 was her name) and an old tri axle and picked up work from clearing houses and it went on from there. By 12months i was subbing out work to other O/D’s as i was so busy. Went back out to Spain and started subbing for a couple of largish hauliers selling on the later lhd F7 and went up through (used) F10/F12 and F16 as the money started to improve somewhat. I now do regular work for a large transport consortium in Malaga as does another fellow Brit driver pulling Hungarian/Greek/Spanish tilts back and forth to Calais/Reims. My current drive is a three year old FH13 500 bought outright and am now looking to buy/lease a new FH16 700.Work here is in abundance and the money very good.
My advice is work from the bottom up, dont go headlong buying an expensive new truck but buy the best you can on your budget and see how work goes before saddling yourself with debt you may not be able to repay…
Harry Monk:
Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.
A bit of excellent advice.
Second bit save yourself a few years of time mate.
Get the money (in cash) you have already saved for your venture, put it in a bag.
And torch it. 
robroy:
Harry Monk:
Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.A bit of excellent advice.
Second bit save yourself a few years of time mate.
Get the money (in cash) you have already saved for your venture, put it in a bag.And torch it.
Working for someone else just lines their pockets, working for yourself lines your own…
Thanx Andrew. A positive reply at last…i was thinking to buy a cheap truck for start…but what other cost will occur before that? I’ve read that i need aroud 8000£ in my business account…
Harry Monk:
There are several more threads on the owner driver forum in which the same question has been asked and answered in some detail over the years, so a search there might be fruitful. Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.
This is correct ^^^^, the origional post is like me setting up a hospital because ive got a first aid kit !
AndrewG:
Working for someone else just lines their pockets, working for yourself lines your own…
I think the point still stands though that if the OP has only just passed his Class 2 test, that he would be well advised to gain some experience in the road transport industry as an employee before even thinking about operating a vehicle, a sort of “learn to walk before you run” principle?
You need an Operating Centre, an Operators Licence, a Transport Manager and access to at least £7850 at all times. Plus enough money to cover the Operator Licence application and expenses until you get paid. You will also need a bit more experience and a dash of good luck.
Radonne31:
Thanx Andrew. A positive reply at last…i was thinking to buy a cheap truck for start…but what other cost will occur before that? I’ve read that i need aroud 8000£ in my business account…
And the rest. If you are on industry standard “30 days end of month” terms then you will spend £8,000 on diesel alone before you get your first incoming payment. If you lease-hire a truck rather than buying one then you might be able to start up with £25,000.
Radonne31:
Thanx Andrew. A positive reply at last…i was thinking to buy a cheap truck for start…but what other cost will occur before that? I’ve read that i need aroud 8000£ in my business account…
A cheap truck to start off bought outright if possible with no finance will be a weight off your shoulders however, its essential to buy something with good service records and also cosmetically sound, no one will sub you out work with a tatty truck and when youve found one suitable take someone knowledgeable with you to look it over or pay to have it inspected to avoid expensive lemons. Obviously insurance will be another big consideration, get some quotes in first and try to pay this in advance too, the less direct debits you have coming in the better. Organising scheduled maintenance at reasonable rates is another must, source an independant workshop, avoid main dealers as costs can be exhorbitant. Also get yourself breakdown/tyre cover. Re your business account the more money you have in there the better, start off on the right foot and with a professional approach and work will come your way…
AndrewG:
robroy:
Harry Monk:
Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.A bit of excellent advice.
Second bit save yourself a few years of time mate.
Get the money (in cash) you have already saved for your venture, put it in a bag.And torch it.
Working for someone else just lines their pockets, working for yourself lines your own…
Thanks for that mate, I’ll just write that down so I remember it. 
I would take it that you have done ok,and if so fair play to you Statistically it would be interesting to know how many owner drivers have done well, and/or even still trading in last 20 or more years, in comparison to how many have not…just saying.
And as in this case how many have gone in bare back with no experience and lasted more than 6 months.
robroy:
AndrewG:
robroy:
Harry Monk:
Certainly one piece of advice which you will receive over and over again (and which I agree with) is “Don’t even think about putting your own truck on the road until you have at least a couple of years, and preferably much more, experience working as an employee”.A bit of excellent advice.
Second bit save yourself a few years of time mate.
Get the money (in cash) you have already saved for your venture, put it in a bag.And torch it.
Working for someone else just lines their pockets, working for yourself lines your own…
Thanks for that mate, I’ll just write that down so I remember it.
I would take it that you have done ok,and if so fair play to you Statistically it would be interesting to know how many owner drivers have done well, and/or even still trading in last 20 or more years, in comparison to how many have not…just saying.
I wasnt being sarcastic Rob when i said that, just my dry ramblings
Btw- yes i suppose i could say ive done ok, but…having said that it was a while since i started out and luck does play a part… like an old horseshoe,the very reason Lucky 7’s visor was transfered truck to truck until it wouldnt fit anymore 
Radonne31:
Thanx Andrew. A positive reply at last…i was thinking to buy a cheap truck for start…but what other cost will occur before that? I’ve read that i need aroud 8000£ in my business account…
And you need to show that for a period of months prior to the application as well so I understand.
Some figures I have already had confirmed for putting an artic on the road, cant imagine it being drastically different for a class 2:
O-Licence - £680 + advertising cost.
O-Centre - 40ish + VAT a week
VED - £1500 p/a
Insurance including Public Liability and Goods in Transit: £5300 for the first year. Thats based on 120,000km a year with me driving, and I have 6 years experience more than you, £6500 per tonne GIT and the infrequent load of ADR in packages.
In a Euro 6 unit you would be looking at about £1000 a week in fuel and adblue so as said above, about £8k before the first invoice could hope to be paid.
Buying a cheap truck is a massive gamble. You could get very lucky and not have a problem with it. Or you could spend £10k on a truck and then another £10k in the first month keeping the bloody thing running.
Servicing in a year will cost somewhere near £3k. Plus the cost of the MOT £144, plus the cost of MOT prep which I don’t know.
Doing your Transport Manager CPC can cost as little as £1000 but will take about two months to get from first session to final exam. Or the FTA do a back to back course which with exam fees, Drivers CPC and the case studies revision course will set you back £2k + VAT.
If you are looking at running a wagon then you are going to be breaking the VAT threshold which means you will likely need an accountant, unless your good lady (or gent - no judgement) happens to be a number cruncher by trade. That will set you back from £1300 a year upwards.
Next question, where is your work coming from? For a class 2 its not as ‘easy’ as it is for a class 1 driver. At least if it all goes a bit dodgy for a class 1 driver we can drop the trailer and go and pull for Maritime or someone like that. Not so easy with a class 2.
I wish you luck if this is the way you want to go but to be honest I would say you are better off spending some more of your money getting a class 1 licence. Then there are several operators out there that will take you the day your licence turns up. Fowler Welch are a big one for taking newbies on, so are XPO Logistics. If you do decide to do the owner-operator route you need a good £40-50k in the bank if you are buying outright. When I priced up putting a used Renault Premium on the road to containers, I would have needed £39,091 inc VAT just to get everything with me. Plus the running costs.
Of course you would get about 7k of that back in reclaimed VAT, but that will come back 2-4 weeks after the VAT return is filed. so upto 4 months down the line.
nsmith1180:
Radonne31:
Thanx Andrew. A positive reply at last…i was thinking to buy a cheap truck for start…but what other cost will occur before that? I’ve read that i need aroud 8000£ in my business account…Insurance including Public Liability and Goods in Transit: £5300 for the first year. Thats based on 120,000km a year with me driving, and I have 6 years experience more than you, £6500 per tonne GIT and the infrequent load of ADR in packages.
If you do decide to do the owner-operator route you need a good £40-50k in the bank if you are buying outright. When I priced up putting a used Renault Premium on the road to containers, I would have needed £39,091 inc VAT just to get everything with me. Plus the running costs.
.
Not being a pedant but…you dont always need GIT ins. Co i sub for take the view its their goods/trailer, even tyres, they pay the lot.
A new venture and buying outright at £40K is nuts, at this price money would be better in the bank and leasing.
Thank you Nick…very useful information…i will keep getting as much information as i can…I wasn’t thought it will be cheap but 40-50k are a bit out of my league…
AndrewG:
I wasnt being sarcastic Rob when i said that, just my dry ramblings
Btw- yes i suppose i could say ive done ok, but…having said that it was a while since i started out and luck does play a part… like an old horseshoe,the very reason Lucky 7’s visor was transfered truck to truck until it wouldnt fit anymore
Yeh ok fair enough 
Thing is though the times that we started out and starting out today is like comparing apples with oranges.
You bought your old F7, I bought an 8 yr old Atki.
A good hard no nonsence truck, no frills (and certainly no comfort ) that made me a few quid to get a good start until I changed it for a 2800 DAF.
Trucks today are not old work horses anymore, they are more like thorough bred race horses with diva like characteristics.
It could be a bit of a no no to buy an old one, as you once could gamble on quite sucessfully, and you can’t get your mechanic mate you went to school with to service it anymore, unless he has all the computer tech and software that pertains to it that is, so it’s main dealership at outrageous rates.
You can’t bend or break the rules as you could…well you can, but you WILL be caught, or bubbled by some charmer.
You can not compete with the like of The Green Death, or DHL
If you subby you get all the ■■■■
If you do dock trailer work you get rates 10 yrs out of date.
You NEED good direct own work,
.(…and I need to get down close and personal with Holly Willoughby, and I reckon that is a safer bet at the bookies.)
So on the face of it mate, I for one would not give the o/p high hopes, for his own good.
He is destined to be chewed up and spit out for his naivety by at least one shark in this game, which is why I stick with the torching of the cash alternative…that’s all I’m saying.
AndrewG:
Not being a pedant but…you dont always need GIT ins. Co i sub for take the view its their goods/trailer, even tyres, they pay the lot.
A new venture and buying outright at £40K is nuts, at this price money would be better in the bank and leasing.
I always take the view that you should plan on worst case scenario so full GIT was priced in. I also wasn’t advocating spending 40 large on a unit. It was based on owning outright a 20K unit (60-11 plate Premium 460 DXi - 300k ish), buying and self reconing a 2008 montracon sliding skel, kitting it for ADR, ratchet straps, bulldog lock etc. I also included 12 tyres thinking that with a used unit and very used trailer i would at least need to change a few in the first 6-9 months. The only extras in the calculation were a beacon bar in the hope of picking up brick and block work in the summer and a 2500 watt inverter. They came to a grand total of £326 inc VAT