Hello guys i was thinking of buying my own wagon,
Somewhere around Oct Nov this year, i’m not sure if to buy lease or rent, i understand that lease and rent are dead money, my question really is can plenty of work be had, and are rates any good, on an average what would the work pay per month after all the costs are covered, ( rough idea ) do containers pay or best with general haulage, any other stuff you think i might need to know would be great,
Also what do i have to have in the way of cpc and maintenance for the truck.
I’m putting a truck on the road myself, probably next month. Most people say I am mad. However, I’ll give you my two pennorth. Basically, there are two steps.
Step 1. Find a reliable offer of work that pays reasonably well and promptly from a company which is 100% financially sound.
Step 2. Everything else.
Containers, well some people make a living doing them but I couldn’t get the maths to add up.
Buy or lease, different people have differing opinions.
You will need a CPC, or to nominate a CPC holder, although TCs are becoming ever less enthusiastic about external transport managers and a hired-in TM will cost more per year than it would cost you to get your own CPC.
You will need a maintenance contract in place before you submit your application, to VOSA standards. Any commercial garage will provide you with that. Also you will need somewhere to park, and written confirmation from the owner to park there etc.
You will need to be able to prove financial standing, broadly that you always have ready access to £7,700 for your first vehicle, and you will of course need to run it for a couple of months before the first cheque arrives which will cost upwards of £10,000.
As to whether you should do it, no idea. Only you can say.
toby1234abc:
Call LK Walter in Austria,can find work all over europe and beyond that.
Couldn’t agree with that. Much as I would prefer to be driving all around Europe, I would simply be competing with eastern Europeans. Making a reasonable stab at it from a business point of view means getting into an area in which you are shielded from that competition, for example by running at 44 tonnes on domestic work with a three-axle unit.
Thanks for that, how do you know which contract work pays best when there are so many people saying what does and does not pay, the money side is no problem, and a cpc is no problem, just the question of kind of work, i know a guy who does the log wagons and he makes it pay, but its quite alot of setting the trailer up, i forgot to mention the wagon will be double manned and running day and nights, if that makes much difference.
Cheers
and if you do, just stick at one truck, do not buy more to run
Well, that is a good answer, but one day we will come out of recession and that is when you can make serious money. “The darkest hour is just before the dawn”, as they say!
The loggers are probably on more than £1.30 per mile though! Any traction work that is easy to get on just by ringing firms up is not going to pay more than this, i’m sure transalliance is the same as all the others who are just trying to find mugs to do their work for a pittance, and they’re queuing up round the block to do it, madness.
If you can get on work that is not traction, with your own trailer where you don’t have to faff about getting reloads it’s the only way to go imo or where the primary out bound rate is enough for you to come back empty and still make a decent profit, the reloads can be a brucey bonus, if you can get them at a decent rate.
Regularity is the down fall of many OD’s, if the work isn’t year round then you’re screwed.
Well thats a mixed bag of answers, i knew someone would say dont do it,? i can never figure it out if i should not do it then why do you?.. thanks very much for some good answers though
I’D say find the work you are going to be content in staying at and do the maths !there’s alot to be said for getting your wages handed to you every week ,no headachesand no worries.
logging? i enjoy the job as an employee but id never run a truck doin this type of work.
yes it pays well but can be expensive off roading at 44t in the winter
a decent trailer with crane will cost you £50,000 and your fuel bill is high
i got a 61 plate scania struggling to do 6.5. oh and a full set of tyers every year.
gixxerboss:
Well thats a mixed bag of answers, i knew someone would say dont do it,? i can never figure it out if i should not do it then why do you?.. thanks very much for some good answers though
Because when I started, I was young and naive and wouldn’t have listened to good advice anyway.
By pure chance after doing some crap traction work, I landed on one of the best jobs in the country but nothing lasts for ever & without this miracle i’d have cursed the day I ever decided to get involved with running my own.
If you’ve got good work lined up then go for it, you say it’s going to be double shifted, so you’ve got a customer who has agreed to run you like this then? Most owner driving is tramping.
so hows it going to be double shifted if you dont have any work lined up yet?
unless its a regular run with a 24 hr tip then i fail to see how you can make it pay shelling out for 2 wages
alun:
logging? i enjoy the job as an employee but id never run a truck doin this type of work.
yes it pays well but can be expensive off roading at 44t in the winter
a decent trailer with crane will cost you £50,000 and your fuel bill is high
i got a 61 plate scania struggling to do 6.5. oh and a full set of tyers every year.
Ok there seems to be a couple who have not read all the messages, so i’m thinking of getting a wagon of my own, not sure what is involved or what its all about, so was looking for info and advice. I can double man if this makes a difference, which with new digi cards it kind of makes it easy as no finish or start point is now showing. Thought about containers as i would have thought these were moved 24/7 hence double manned. just wanted to ask people who actually owned a wagon for there view.
chaversdad:
so hows it going to be double shifted if you dont have any work lined up yet?
unless its a regular run with a 24 hr tip then i fail to see how you can make it pay shelling out for 2 wages
