I AM CURRENTLY RESEARCHING THE OWNER DRIVER MARKET WITH A VIEW TO GOING IT ALONE. I AM LUCKY IN THE FACT THAT I HAVE MY CPC INTERNATIONAL, FLT, ADR AND DGSA (FORCES RESETTLEMENT). I AM ALSO LUCKY IN THE FACT THAT I CAN FUND THE START UP COSTS WITHOUT BOROWING MONEY AND REPAYING INTREST. MY RESEARCH SO FAR AS LEAD ME TO BELIEVE THAT THE COSTS WILL LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THE FOLLOWING.
START UP COSTS
VEHICLE AND TRAILER £20000
O LICENCE APPLICATION £581
INSURANCES £3500
RESERVE MONEY £10000
STANDING COSTS (ANNUAL)
DEPRECIATION £4000
VED £1200
ANNUAL MOT £70
INSURANCES £3500
O LICENCE £118
ACCOUNTANT FEES £500
PHONE £360
STATIONARY £250
OPERATOR CENTRE £600
OWN WAGES ?
THE ONLY AREA THAT I AM UNCERTAIN OF IS MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTIONS. I WOULD WELCOME ANY FEEDBACK FROM EXPERIENCED OPERATORS ON MY BUDGET OF:
6 WEEKLY INSPECTIONS £600
MAINTENANCE AND SERVICING £5000
RUNNING COSTS
FUEL 2 MILES PER LITRE
TYRES X 14 AT £300 PER TYRE = £4200
OILS, LUBES AND FLUIDS £300
MISCELLANEOUS
TOLLS 220 EUROS NORTH TO SOUTH OF FRANCE
FERRIES £460 RETURN DOVER TO DUNKERQUE
OVERNIGHT PARKING
HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING OUT ? FEEDBACK ON COSTS WOULD BE MOST WELCOME, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREA OF SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE.
if you want an honest opinion? right now with the way things are going and the way this particular government semm to be viewing road haulage in general you’d have to be stark raving mad to even contemplate investing any money in it.
sorry if thats not want you want to hear but theres o/d’s packin it in everyday simply because they’re sick of being screwed, either by the latest fuel price hyke or some ■■■■■■ that won’t pay their bill.
I would like to just say the following how much
experience do you have working in the civilian
side of transport, where have you driven what
is the type of work you will be doing,how up
to date are you with european driveing bans,
traffic law,IF you have never worked in this
transport before, then take a step back have
a re-think as to what you will do,
WHY because you need to have hands on
knowledge if you wish to survive,take the oppertunity
to work as a driver for some one who does the
type of work you are intrested ,and then once you have gained
some experience,you could restart your plans again,
but now with more knowledge and information
gained, it will improve your chances of makeing
the firm you wish to start a sucess,
The world outside of the forces is one which is completly
differant to what you have been used to whilst serveing
with the forces,and you will not survive if you have not
taken a look at the risks and tried to minimuse them
what ever you do all the best, try reading
the stickies on this and other sites
they will have lots of info which can help,
look through the useful tips site
there are lots of useful tips for you there,
also use the search button
and put in starting up as O/D
you will find here also lots of infoi,
I pay- (on a 8 wheeler tipper)
accountant £1000 per year
parking - £1200 per year
£2550 insurance per year (with 1 claim)
£25 for a 6 week inspection (by mobile technician)
£55 phone per month
£180 for a 12r front tyre and £178 for a 11r drive tyre (new not remoulds)
as for maintenace costs - on tipper work its a rough job so up to 16 tyres a year.
youll probably get 2 years out of a set of tyres on your unit on motorway work. axle 1 + 3 on trailer will use a set per year.
1 reline a year (per axle) £80 for shoes and £60 labour (£560 for 4 axles)
I do the following myself so no labour charge.
(oil disposal in parking charges)
oil + filter changes 36 litres x £1.61 a litre for texaco E7 oil £57.96
oil filters £12.00 x 2 £24
fuel filters £9.00 x 2 £18 both every 45000 kms or 3 inspections
air filter £25.00 1 per year
gl4 gear box oil £1.31 x 13 £17.03 1 per year
gl5 drive axle oil £1.31 x 45 £58.95 1 per year
air dryer filter £15.00 1 per year
grease £120 per year
but then I shatter a 3rd diff and that costs - £1800 + £1.31 x 25 £32.75 for gl5 oil again! I do that myself so save £280 on labour costs.
MOT £91.00 (4 axle)
Mot preperation -£not much cause its always in tiptop condition!- but you always find something! - so say £500
2 brake tests per year £80
slack adjusters can pack up £90
turbo £350
radiator £400
clutch £1000 fitted
road spring £375 fitted
mirror £75.00
cab mounts £450 fitted
steam cleaner fluid £16 per 25 litre (4 per year)
and of course a powertrucks ecu power chip!! £595
hope these maintenance costs help you. try and do as much as you can to save on labour costs.
the £55 includes free internet, unlimited texts, 1200 mins and 3 magic numbers (free unlimited calls to 3 orange numbers) its the most it should ever be!! (not counting the £300 it cost when I was in vegas )
accontant is £800 for self assessment and £200 for the vat.
I have had a quote of £450 off another accountant but I know mine does a good job !
Mine is 410 quid a year (+VAT). However, my missus prepares quite a bit of it and he basically checks it all adds up and calculates my tax. I know he charges one of my mates a lot more - mainly cos his idea of filing receipts is to chuck them in a bin bag!
My accountant is based miles away (Shrewsbury) but I just put everything I have on disk and send it to him. I think trusting the guy is probably more important than price though from what I’ve seen (within reason).
go work for a company doing what you feel you would like to do. take note of how mutch work you do ,fuel consumption ect make your little mistakes working for them .you will soon know weather or not you can cut it and you will still have all your hard earned cash. i do know as an od you will be better off but you will never be ritch that is what i was told and they were dead right.one more thing as columbo say you will need a bit of luck
Rookie, can I ask if you were quoted a price to do a job in your vehicle, would you know if it was a profitable job to undertake? If you don’t know then I would advise you stay out of it.
Your running costs,maintenance,inspections and tyres are hard to price as you don’t really know what will go wrong, good or bad.
Also if you have money to be able to start up without having to borrow any, then you must have a few pound saved and you may get a better return just leaving it in a high interest account and working for someone(even on a casual basis). I may sound negative, but I am far from it. PM if you want more information.
JJ72,
I ran an old Daf worth £7k in Europe in the late 80’s, I had guys say what you have just said…but how does the truck know it’s in Europe and not in the UK? Point is as long as it is mechanically sound then running it wherever makes no difference, I know if things do go wrong then it can be expensive, but new trucks go wrong as well.
Thanks for all the advice, i really apreciate it. The general opinion that i am sensing is to work for somebody first and then decide. I will take all your advice on board and do just that.
Just one more question regarding rates. when companies refer to price per mile and price per job, do they asume that VAT will be included in that price. I am researching VAT at the moment and it seems complicated.
