I didn’t think the finance rates are particularly good.
The insurance is horrifically expensive, you can’t organise your own - you have to do it through their ‘approved’ insurance firm. Captive audiences don’t get a good deal.
They will give work proirity to trucks with bigger finance payments on them, thus encouraging people to have new trucks on HP all the time.
The franchisees run on the same rates as everyone else.
They take the pee with a 40quid a month ‘documentation fee’, a large part of which is what other hauliers get for nothing.
Basically felt it was all in their favour. They even wanted 1200 quid to paint the ■■■■■■■ thing in their colours!
I’m not knocking the lads thatgo down this route but if you get too many of them in one place, then any advantage you might get is cancelled out because everyone is a ‘special boy’. Also, the quarries can dictate totally the rates. “Due to cost pressures, we’re cutting them by 4% etc”. Nobody says a word because they are scared of having their wagons pinched back off em and so everyone gets poorer.
Also, you might find that certain makes of truck, body, sheeting system etc are ‘encouraged’ and others aren’t allowed…usually unofficially of course.
Coddy:
The reason drivers were stood down was because of the recession, and lack of building, sod all else…
Ex OD 75k per year, OK.
But you ain’t doing it now , neither am i, ok i earn’t £50,000-£60,000 a year but that was before any payments out etc (did you mean £75 net take home ) and i was one of country’s highest earners on the type of vehicle (According to the office staff and they knew everyone’s wages before we did )
I know several O/D’s who went down “i’ll have another truck/make a killing route”, all are back to 1 truck or out of the business now. I was asked many times to take on another truck, always “No thanks”.
In the not so old days it was a truck each, then when they couln’t get drivers you can have 2-3 whatever you want.
I am doing a “bit” for someone with 10 trucks, who is happy to muddle through making £20 a day per truck average, £50 k a year for 10 staff and all the mither doesn’t seem worth it.
I do 37 hrs now, 30 days hols + banks etc and am not much worse off, probably a few grand a year made up by “helping” out now and again.
Choose your business well and you may be ok, when i showed a business advisor the contract they advised don’t touch it with a bargepole, contracts are supposed to be amenable to both parties not one over the other
Hanson run 2 payment systems, 1 is the straight forward tonne/mile basis where you are paid by the radial mile,the second is planner, you are paid I think £45 per day attendance then something like £13 per load plus a mileage rate depending on how large a truck you run and they are all the road miles you cover. I have some franchise trucks and its a bit thin at the moment particularly the 6 wheeler but the construction job is still on its arse so we cant expect to do anything more than survive. We are a company with our own workshop and I drive 1 myself and I would not like to get into it at the moment unless I could put about 50% down on the truck and have lots of luck. A ■■■ packet calculation put my running costs on my 6 wheeler at £1.24 per mile and I do runs at £1.15 that loss has to come out of my salary and I dont take a fortune out. Mark
, neither am i, ok i earn’t £50,000-£60,000 a year but that was before any payments out etc (did you mean £75 net take home ) and i was one of country’s highest earners on the type of vehicle (According to the office staff and they knew everyone’s wages before we did 
)