Please could someone give me some advice please on buying my first truck, I want to start helping people learn to drive trucks as me my dad and grandad all drive trucks and between us have years of experience im also good at marketing and have a few companies set up and they do alright so im pretty confident that we can make a good go of it.
We have about 10 k between us for a truck and want to start off in the Essex, East London area, ive been speaking to a few companies trying to get little bits of info out of them but no one really wants to help (don’t blame them lol) anyway this is what I would like to know please if anyone can help
as I am operating a HGV learning school no O license is needed? is this correct?
to teach people there is a voluntary register of large goods vehicle instructors does this mean I can set up without this.
or do you need this to get insured?
can anyone recommend a good rigid truck to buy in the region of about 10k
any other tips or any info that could help me would be much appreciated
I don’t want to sound condescending but if you have to ask here you are way out of your depth surely, any competent company is set up by people with the necessary skills and groundwork done and numbers crunched.
Also just because you have a licence does not mean you are any good as an instructor either.
Just my very humble opinion.
There are guys on here that do the job that may come along and shot me down…but I doubt it.
But if you reckon you can make it work please go for it.
And let us know in two years how you are fairing.
£10k to buy a truck and set up a business buys you a lorry that is just about ready to be a shunter, pay the road tax and only leaves you enough money for diesel for a month and nothing to set the business up with. And the lorry you buy you won’t be able to use in the London LEZ without paying the £250 a day charge.
So what research have you done? Have you done any market research? Have you researched other companies doing the same and see what they use, what services they offer, the standard of vehicle and how much they charge? Have you worked out running costs not only for the vehicle but for the business so things like insurances, office costs, advertising costs?
Do you have a business plan? Business plans may sound like something that only poncy pen pushers bother with and rufty tufty truck drivers don’t need any of that nonsense but a business plan has in everything above and it will tell you if the business stands a chance or not. You WILL need a business plan to open a business bank account and you’ll need one if you want to borrow money to fund starting the business.
Your very rudimentary questions leave me questioning whether you have actually set up a few companies because if you had you wouldn’t have been asking any of these questions because you’d have already found the answers when doing a business plan.
Op if you can get a decent lorry in budget don’t worry about euro 4 as you can get the exhaust from breakers for as little as £100 now and fit very easy if you get the none electric one ,buying a lorry that’s already been converted though is bad news as some get run with the filter clogged and engine over heating among other problems ect ect .
