As a company driver, what driving habits should I develop before buying my own truck?

[JimT]

(04-13-2020 )DVT873 Wrote:  Why start in August? Unless you live and will run in the warm part of the country. Doing work outside on the truck when its 25 degrees F is not as fun as it sounds. Build up your money, refine your driving, listen to these guys about the numbers then do this next spring.

Very good point. More reasons why you might want to wait, besides your own experience level:

- Covid-19 economic impacts: Things are really shaken up right now and it's impossible to predict when and how things will rebound. Some trucking segments may flurish while others could see a year of rates dropping close to $1/mi due to lack of demand.

- Seasonal ups and downs: Different segments have different busy/slow times. Flatbed is typically busy mid-spring through mid-fall. Reefer tends to ebb and flow with different harvest seasons across the country. One area could be great while the other side of your load is completely dead. Dryvan is typically dead between January and March, with a peak season of August through early December due to the seasonal cycles in the retail sector. Specialized/dedicated carriers may see more consistency year round (depending on the industry being served). Generally speaking though, the winter months (mid-December through mid-March) are the slowest across the entire industry.

- Supply and demand: Together with the points above and the entire global economy as a whole, trucking is completely dependent on supply and demand. Low demand and a high number of available trucks leads to lower rates. OO's and small companies typically have a higher cost of operation compared to larger ones with more resources. That means the big guys can usually push through the bad times without drastic changes, but the OO's and small companies are more sensitive to these changes. OO's are the cushion on the industry. When things are busy we take up the slack. When things take a down turn we are the first (big companies included) who see less work being available. We provide relief for capacity changes that can't be predicted. Kinda like the expansion tank on a boiler system. As an OO you need to build up some cushion to weather these slow times. It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when and how long.

Based on your comments, the longer you wait the more money you can save up. The more money you start out with the easier it will be to weather whatever storms come your way. Also, it's likely we will see a very unusual market this year due to Covid-19 disruptions and the after effects. There's a good chance that 6-12 months from now you will see an excess of used trucks hit the market, many sold off due to shutdowns or downsizing. That provides a nice opportunity to seek out a well cared for truck that wouldn't normally have been sold. Plus, once things cycle around the surge in demand will stretch the downsized capacity and help boost rates across the board.

I'm not an analyst and I don't put much stock in them, but I'd wager that next Spring will see some level of growth/high demand/boom for trucking. May not be as big as we saw a few years back, but generally positive across the board. --- On the flip side, if this pandemic leads to some major long term economic devastation (in the US or in countries that we depend on), then come Fall-Winter we could enter a couple years of global economic depression, which would be really tough to try to start a new business or sustain a young business.

Bottom line, take your time, don't rush. And save up as much capital as you can before jumping in to anything.