Can I become an owner operator with no experience?

About Us - Boblett Brothers

Chad Boblett, Author at DAT Freight & Analytics - Blog

 

While a lot of people here are giving some snark. Something thats justifiable considering the 50 million posts on this we get near daily. They are also entirely correct. Going directly from car driver to O/O is a very poor idea. The rate for O/Os to fail who have good maintaince accounts and years or in some cases decades of experinces is at 9 of 10 fail the first year, 7 of 10 fail the second and 5 of 10 fail the third.Coming directly into the industry and as your own post even shows. You have ZERO clue about anything. 15k is not a down payment on anything. Thats not even a single major repair in many cases.

For example a new semi is going 200-400K depending on the type and specs you use. Used start at $75,000 for something that doesnt have peices falling off. The payments start at $3500 to $9000 a month. Trailers go for 20k to 160K depending on type of trailer and if new or used. A days diesel is likely in the $500 range PER DAY insurance when your experinced is around $300....a week or about 15k a truck per year.

Without experince id be suprised if you get less then 50k a year. A major breakdown starts at $5000 and can go as high as $80,000 if you lose the engine. A tow is easily $3500. A roadside flat is $1500+ new tires start at $500 a pop for a good mid range brand and go as high as $1200 for super singles.

Then you start getting into pay. Do you think any shipper is going to intrust their cargo to someone who likely gets confused over terms like per-dium or fuel surcharge? How about giving 10,000-1millon dollars worth of cargo to them?

What happens if you get a lemon. Hell go look at my own thread as a PERFECT case in point of what can go wrong. And i only made it because i had 5 generations of O/Os and over a decade of experinces ontop of a good mechanical knowledge and a #### good and understanding customer who didnt cut me loose after the 3rd major breakdown.

Honestly, your welcome to ignore us and try anyway. We may all be wrong and you end up owning the next swift. More likely however, your going to join the line of literally hundreds of thousands of other failed O/Os

 

It will take around 1/5 of your money just to get the necessary DOT/MC numbers.

 

Best off getting some real experience before plunging into the river and trying to swim it if you get my meaning. That money would be much better left in a fixed term deposit in the bank at least earning you some interest. While its great to have goals, you need to sit down and write out your long term goals and how you intend to reach them, so by all means pursue your O/O opportunities however best get some more experience under your wings before you try and fly long distance mate.

 

I did this but had more money. Better get you a nest egg of 50K before even thinking about it. Do lots of research on trucking and figure out what you will want to haul. Lots of options out here and you can do it but dont try without having enough funding. Good luck!

 

Your best option would be buying bitcoin ... It blew +4k today on the blackrock news ... I started as an owner operator in 2011 with 2010 f350 and 4 cars Kaufman.. but in todays market - run away from trucking before you lost 15k and ruined you credit history

 

... Broker fairy .... lol

 

Well said!

 

Some Pro advisers on this thread are basically telling you the up-front truth. I don't like being pessimistic myself; however, considering the current state of the Trucking industry, better yet economy is down right now so take their advice. I've been driving for almost 3 decades and have been an Owner-operator for just over a year and glad that I have experience as a Truck Driver or things would have cost me triple and my reserves would have been depleted 8 months ago. My 1st suggestion is to Google and Search on YouTube about recent Trucking companies going out of business. This sums up what's occurring in Trucking right now. Think about it, if a Multi-million Trucking Company goes out of business losing hundreds of drivers and Owner operators that speaks volumes. I'd say have $100k in the bank for a reserve or forget about trying to become an owner-operator without any experience. 3 years experience minimum.

 

1974 maybe..
2024 no way, sorry.