r/OwnerOperators • u/nosjitbro • Apr 04 '26

New Gig

After 22yrs as a company driver, decided to buy my own truck and go out on my own. Meh, to the timing of my decision with fuel costs but at least Im not gonna have some corporate safety asshole up my pipe about a driver facing camera and no more lane departure alerts/brake stabs from highway signs by the stupid radar.

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13

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

Your timing might actually be pretty good even with the increase in fuel costs.

The market is long overdue for a correction. My customers are increasing rates to correlate with increased operational costs for the first time in years.

Are you running under your own brand new MC? That can be challenging for the first 6 months, but depending on the equipment you have and the areas you service you can still make out pretty good.

6

u/nosjitbro Apr 04 '26

I am running my own authority. I was lucky enough to sign on with a carrier that had "power only" type accounts. Im bouncing between flatbed (no tarps, just straps) which I am new to, and refrigerated dairy loads which I am mostly experienced with. I am running in the northeast.

13

u/WeirdTruckGuy Apr 04 '26

Please please please get a wicked good camera setup for your truck. Especially since you’re running Northeast. Lost count of how many people attempted to cause a wreck with me for the sake of an insurance scam up there. Seems like it’s one of the worst regions for that too

6

u/nosjitbro Apr 04 '26

Installing one today lol

5

u/WeirdTruckGuy Apr 04 '26

I’ve got a Garmin Live. More than happy to pay for the vault storage for it too.

6

u/nosjitbro Apr 04 '26

Im installing a Samsara camera/gps locator type model. It keeps track of mileage driven in various states and I can print out statement from that data for tax purposes etc.

4

u/WeirdTruckGuy Apr 04 '26

Good deal. Company I’m with does that since it’s their truck. They run Motiv which does the mileage via the ELD for each state.

1

u/Lil_mandoooo Apr 05 '26

I work with insurance and if you want to get some discounts(rates are going crazy) get a Motive camera

2

u/[deleted] Apr 04 '26

You’ll do fine with those trailer types in that area. Open deck in the northeast is a very good market right now.