Emissions and newer truck problems have almost pushed out true owner operators out of the industry.
Just a little bit over 5 years ago you were able to apply for a loan and buy a used truck for $60k with half a million miles and run it almost issue free for another 300k miles.

Of course, this does not mean that you had no issues; DPF problems came up, turbos injectors etc. But before, you also had a reliable aftermarket warranty that didn’t have adjusters come out for every repair and look for anything just to deny it.

Everyone can argue that it was easier to begin your career as an owner operator and set yourself up for success, having said this the brand-new trucks were priced at $120k-$130k not $175k starting, therefore driving the price of used trucks nowadays is up even further.

An average 4-year-old used truck now costs $82k with an average of 500k miles and a new one costs $175k.

With these numbers in mind, it makes no sense to buy a used truck, it makes no sense to be an owner operator at all… Unless you have an experienced team like Driver First that can guide you through your career from being a company driver, to lease driver, to actually becoming a true owner operator.

Being a true owner operator, having that custom dream truck with all the lights and chrome you see every night at the truck stop and most importantly freedom to pick your own home time doesn’t come through an overnight lease program with a mega carrier. Instead, it comes from making yourself more valuable as a professional driver by going to a smaller company where there is more opportunity to grow financially.

Smaller companies pay drivers more to be competitive with the mega carriers, so just by getting paid more you will reach your goal faster to begin with.

A truck driver career is like any other. Once you’re out of driving school you have to go through training at a big company because no one else will hire you due to lack of experience.

Once you have at least 6 months to a year under your belt, you can explore other opportunities to increase your pay, unless you signed a contract. That’s why you need Driver First membership to guide you through major things and events, even before you become a professional, just like athletes need sports agents, drivers need agents too.

You become more valuable with more experience. The way your record looks once you are vetted by the company you are applying with determines your pay. Going from .40cpm to .65cpm at 6 months of experience!!

That means going from a $48,000 salary a year to $78,000 within 6 months, now that’s a huge pay raise, and only after 6 months if you do the right things.

Once you get that raise its time to settle in, stay consistent with being out on the road, so you can build up your cash and learn the business.

In this time, as a company driver your focus needs to be on being consistently on the road, not taking too long of breaks, and limiting your expenses on the road by eating healthy and not eating out 2 times a day at expensive truck stops (check out our healthy trucker posts once a week).

Focus on saving as much money as possible, write down every load that you are doing as a company driver, so once you make that switch to a lease driver you know where they should be running you to make the most money since they did that while you were a company driver.

Catching these operational patterns in the way they dispatch you as a company driver, and not depending financially on your company creates a value in you for which every company will fight to keep you. You can then use this to your advantage once you have enough money saved up and are ready to start shopping for your first truck.

Once you learn how to add value to yourself and become independent financially from the weekly advances, you are ready for the next step in your career.

With the guidance of the Driver First team, you can reach your goals in under two years coming out of CDL School.

For more, visit us at Driverfirst.com. We truly are here to help.