Renting out my truck?

This isn't how trucking works... You don't "rent" out anything.. You lease it on to on of these companies.. As owner/operator you are required to maintain all equipment keep insurance current and pay your drivers..
I have never heard of anyone renting a truck to a company. In my opinion this is a horrible idea at the onset... Something you have to understand about truck is there is no money in trucking right now... There is driver making a living cash but not a lot extra.. If you do the math on it a new truck is going to be around 140,000 that is what freightliner is getting for a stripped down Cascadia right now... payments will be anywhere from 1400 to 2900 a month depending on what you put down. A driver is not going to work for you for less than 750 a week most will want more in the oil field boom... So say 3700 a month... avg the truck payment out you are looking at say 2000 a month on the truck.. (with no trailer) total that to 5700 a month.. Insurance will be about 750 a month if you get your own authority.. probably 450 to 500 if you get through company.. now we are up to 6200 a month in cost.. Tires are 475 to 600 a piece... guy gets a piece of steel in a tire to close to the sidewall... there goes that money... if you ask me you are just asking for a lot of headache and a bankruptcy but do what you want.. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

 

Buying a trailer is a huge unnecessary expense because the companies have plenty of their own trailers.
If you want to own a fleet of trucks look into expediting. There are plenty of good used trucks available and the accepted practice is to contract drivers to work as independent contractors. The expedite carriers find the work for the drivers.

 

Just a technicality, owner operators OPERATE their equipment. You're looking at become a small fleet owner. As mentioned, you'll lease your truck on with a company which will take care of a lot of the work. Obviously, they'll give you the work, do the billing, pay you your cut, and you can also get your insurance and plates through them. Your driver will turn in his logs to them, the company will drug test him, etc., etc.

Your part obviously is to provide the truck and the driver and you'll pay the driver from your settlement. Sometimes companies can also help you find drivers. Tons of regulations in the industry and the lease company will help you with most of it. One of your first steps probably ought to be finding a company to lease on to.

Dicey situation putting a driver in a brand new truck. As mentioned, you're paying over $100,000 for it but actual owner operators are buying used trucks often between $30 and $50k. That owner operator is babying his equipment, how is this guy going to take care of your large investment? You're going to need a good driver. Drivers can be difficult to find and there's a lot of turn over in the industry.

As far as there not being money in the industry, that's nonsense. The sand haulers at my company are making double the revenue I made when I bought my truck in 2006. Now, this is the oilfield forum, dry vans and such could be another matter. I talked to a Halliburton employee, recently. He said he has four trucks leased on to a produce outfit, I believe, and he says all his Halliburton earnings go toward retirement. You've got to manage the thing.

 

putting a driver in your truck.

most drivers don't take care of the equipment cuz it's not theres to worry about. they don't care if it breaks down. some like the time off. specially if it's one of them industries where the driver is paid by the hour.

something to think about.

 

i bought my first new truck in 1971 made extra good money so bought a second truck to double my money, i did make money with it but it was a long way from double. the driver you hire if you call him a contractor and dont pay anything on him is a good way to get a court date from someone like the irs, social security administration, or local court for a workmens comp. claim. i know your buddy will tell you he dont pay that, but he has not yet got called by some government agency to find out why he is not paying it. be careful out there

 

You can "employ" you driver and take out taxes or you can hire him as a contractor and pay him on a form 1099

 

Expedite fleet owners have been contracting drivers for years without any problems with the IRS. The contractors pay for the fuel , pick their loads , and decide when and where they will take time off . This meets the contractor requirements with IRS.

 

OK renting - NO, leasing - YES

I do this exact thing with one of my trucks, the owner operator is leased to the company and I lease the truck to the owner operator.

Here is how it works -

I charge him a flat rate per month for the access to the truck, this is setup through the contract and is done so if the truck doesn't move, I still make enough to maintain the truck (yes it can't just sit there being ignored).

I then charge him for each mile it is driven.

Normally I would have an escrow for the truck based on his driving record (yes I did a complete background check) but because we agreed to no form of escrow for the truck in case he wrecks it, I get a percentage of his gross on the truck.

Now this sounds like I'm fleecing him but not at all, the lease payment is setup like a traclease and allows him to maintain a good margin for his work.

This is not for the light hearted at all, it takes a lot of work to setup and maintain.

The biggest issue is the contract, having it created not by Legalzoom or a fly by night legal aid (hint ambulance chaser) but a lawyer who knows what he/she is doing. I think finding a good one is the hardest thing about it.

By the way, I am a fleet owner and have had expedite trucks. ALL the drivers were IC's, no IRS/DoL issues because I played by two important rules - they are hired to make money and not be micromanaged.

 

In the set up you describe, you're like Ryder when a guy leases a truck and leases it on to a carrier. That's a possibility, one I didn't know existed, but it's different from the way most small fleet owners operate, don't you agree? In most arrangements, the driver will be working for both, the carrier and the truck owner, even if he's only a contractor (1090) to the truck owner.