hi all, looking at going down the owner driver route before i spend all my savings and finance rest on a vehicle id like to know how it works ie,buying /hiring a truck costs(this would neeed to be included as itl partly be financed, wages an how your paid (by this i mean per hour/job etc), who pays for petrol, services cost i guess are down to me, overnight parking tickets toll charges etc. all and as much info as possible would be welcome, thanks in advance for all replies.
ian
OK, I’ll ask the first question -
Do you have 100% guaranteed work if you go down this route 
If not - FORGET IT - is likely to be your answer from most I’ll guess…
ROG:
Do you have 100% guaranteed work if you go down this route.
nobody ever has 100% guaranteed work 
bigcheese:
hi all, looking at going down the owner driver route before i spend all my savings and finance rest on a vehicle id like to know how it works ie,buying /hiring a truck costs(this would neeed to be included as itl partly be financed, wages an how your paid (by this i mean per hour/job etc), who pays for petrol, services cost i guess are down to me, overnight parking tickets toll charges etc. all and as much info as possible would be welcome, thanks in advance for all replies.ian
What experience do you have of haulage ? What sort of work are you thinking of ?
and don’t forget
Most trucks don’t use petrol
is it half term again
hi Please do not take offense but you will have lots of people laughing
their heads off, at this present time ,to try and start up in transport.
Over here (Germany) we are haveing just like the UK and else where Very large firms calling in the recievers,What experience do you have and what type of goods have you
transported.have you done your research,and or spoken AND signed written contracts
as regards work ,do you have the rates worked out, is standing time also accounted for
what about Fuel-,road charges visa,s border charges,been includedthis is just a few there are lots more and others will proberly put post then laterARE you doing national
or also doing International work, have you got a yard;parking area ,workshop,
O licence, are you converseant with the rules,laws for where you will be working
what about GIT insureance, etc etc,if you are going to do silo, or tanker work
are you buying or hireing, what about the tractor unit is it new, old, Mot,d
Taxed, etc,by the way HAVE you talked to any one who is a O/D ,with either 1
lorry or those with more than one,
ONE other piece of information if you do not have much experience
and have had your licence not very long, take some time say A YEAR
working at various tyoes of transport, and then sit down and comtenplate
the move again.
i passed artic 6 months ago only done odd (2days a week average) work for my firm and agency between. i dont take any offence i dont know anything about being a owner driver hence me asking, i dont have any work lined up for it as i guessed that would be done after setting up, i just figured that why would people pay so much for a unit and trailer insurance etc etc to be earning average employee drivers wage, hence i thought owner drivers would(if they could get the work) relatively well off pay wise. i did a few sums and recon that as a owner driver i would require around £1200 a week to make a good living and cover wagon expenses, am i dreaming? thats why i ask for advice? and i do realise trucks use diesel big balls up on my half there sorry.
it is also a bad time to enter the industry(any industry infact) but dont make it impossible ive gotta keep trying for that full time job somewhere someway. thanks for all replies
ps. any more info on this is appriciated
Hello , others will come and give out their tips
later but read this little bit again, ,
-ONE other piece of information if you do not have much experience
and have had your licence not very long, take some time say A YEAR
working at various tyoes of transport, and then sit down and comtenplate
the move again.
YOU NEED to make a plan of how ,what where,when,written contracts
of work from those who are willing for you to transport their goods,
read the stickys in this forum and else where, put in the search button
ownerdriver and seee what turns up , go and talk to ownerdrivers asking
their advice, you will require various permits ,and will need to take courses
so that you can pass the CPC exams needed to become a ownerdriver,
try getting books from the following shops,
LOOK at this goverment siteDfT
Others will post as well, heed their advice, look through the
web by useing Google, it will show many sites that will help
educate you about what is required and also show some if not
all of the pitfalls of being a O/D;; all the best,
bigcheese:
i passed artic 6 months ago only done odd (2days a week average) work for my firm and agency between. i dont take any offence i dont know anything about being a owner driver hence me asking, i dont have any work lined up for it as i guessed that would be done after setting up, i just figured that why would people pay so much for a unit and trailer insurance etc etc to be earning average employee drivers wage, hence i thought owner drivers would(if they could get the work) relatively well off pay wise. i did a few sums and recon that as a owner driver i would require around £1200 a week to make a good living and cover wagon expenses, am i dreaming? thats why i ask for advice? and i do realise trucks use diesel big balls up on my half there sorry.
it is also a bad time to enter the industry(any industry infact) but dont make it impossible ive gotta keep trying for that full time job somewhere someway. thanks for all repliesps. any more info on this is appriciated
Ok I’ll try not to be too negative 
It’s not a good idea to but a truck without any work lined up
the chance of a new O/D finding work at the moment is quite small - every week there are existing O/Ds on here being stood down and looking for work! I doubt you’d find much is these experienced guys can’ t .
You need more than £1200 a week to cover your expenses imho too - at least £2000 - but this varies depending on the work and mileages done - there’s a sticky post at the top of this forum that will give you some idea of costs.
No offence, but I think you’d be better finding that elusive full time job for a couple of years, get some experience, build up some contacts and think about the OD thing when the economy has picked up.
Whatever you do, I wish you luck with it !
Denis F:
No offence, but I think you’d be better finding that elusive full time job for a couple of years, get some experience, build up some contacts and think about the OD thing when the economy has picked up.Whatever you do, I wish you luck with it !
thats about the most sensible advice you are going to get at the moment
thanks for all the help and replies guys top 1!
Don’t do it at the moment mate, no one is taking on new faces. I f anyone is, it’ll be poor rates. If you aren’t certain of what you are doing you can lose an awful lot of money! Like has been said try and get a full time job with a firm that uses subbies, get to know people at the firm then if the economy picks up and you get assurances of work from said people you already kow then by all means… BUT don’t get yourself in to too much debt and have a quick exit strategy if it goes pear shaped. Insure your invoices in case they don’t pay you!