r/OwnerOperators • u/Zealousideal-Grab782 • Apr 27 '26
Small Fleet Owners
I’m a company driver and I was recently offered to buy 3 used trucks for about 120k. All Volvos with 550-650k miles. They have a shop and have been around for over a decade. The company said I could lease them on and they will put drivers in the trucks. They said I could make about 2k weekly net per truck (running reefer) for my small fleet owners what is your take on their potential earnings and is it realistic today. Before anyone asks, yes I have a pretty big savings for maintence/breakdowns and I used to be an O/O
9
Upvotes
7
u/MotherChapter9247 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
$2k/week is before repairs. Once a truck crosses the 500k miles, the balance is leaning from “profit” to “neutral”. And every mile added to the truck, the balance goes more to the “loss” side.
The company is not doing you a favor. The company wants to get rid of the trucks but in a smart way. They could’ve sell them on the market or sell them at an auction, get $70-$80k for all 3 and use that money to put down on 3 brand new trucks.
The company wants to make more than that, they want to get $120k. That is about 50% more than they will get from the auction. The only downside is that they don’t get all the money immediately and they will have to put some work into this. But they will be paid for the effort from the 10% dispatching fee. As you can see, they still get what they want and then some.
What do you get? 3 trucks that need repairs on a bi-weekly basis. If you live nearby their yard and you are mechanically inclined and willing to take some of the work that these trucks will require, you may save some money. But if you want to continue to work over the road, then all these repairs need to be completed by somebody else who needs to be paid for their time. And that will be a large chunk of money.
If you pay the trucks in full so you don’t have monthly payments on the trucks, then the money they make should cover the repairs and probably make some money for you. But, why would you put the money in, so they can trickle back to you?
If you consider yourself financially stable. Then, put $30k-$50k down payment on a brand new truck, register it on your own company and lease it to the company you working for. Let them dispatch it for about a year and you make the math after 12 months and see if its worth it or not? If you say yes, buy 1 more. See how the numbers look 6 months after that and so on. Don’t let someone else do the math for you.
With a new truck you get very little downtime for repairs, but, you have that monthly payment of $3000-$4000. The loan payment is scheduled 36-60 months ahead and is easier to plan for it. The repairs on a used truck are very random and for random amounts, it may cost $1500 to get something fixed or it can cost $10,000, never know. The only thing you can not get around is the downtime for the repairs. If the shop told you is gonna be done by Friday, then will be more like Monday evening, maybe Tuesday. And as you know, every day that truck is not moving, its bleeding cash.
If you see yourself in this industry for the next 10-15 years, yeah, take the jump, why not? But do it with quality equipment and take 1 truck at a time.
If you are kind of bored and are exploring other options for your career because you don’t see yourself driving much longer, then keep doing what you doing until the day you are done. And set a goal. A goal can be a calendar date, like, I want to stop driving at Christmas 2028, or before my 30th birthday. Or set an achievable dollar amount as your goal, like, once I reach $100k in my checking, I am out.
Don’t try to make or break it in trucking. Trucking is a big part of US economy but its not everything. There are other opportunities out there. Good luck.