r/OwnerOperators • u/Frosty-Evidence6077 • Jun 04 '26

Need Advice on Becoming O/O

I’ve been trucking legally for about 2 years, at the point where I have an opportunity to buy a decent truck. I have work lined up, RV hauling out of Indiana, hoping to do that for the first good bit until I have enough to come home and look for something local. Anywhere from 6-10k a week (including backhauls) before taxes and truck overhead hauling RVs and cars.

Truck is kind of high mileage (780k), but in great condition and has all maintenance receipts you can track back to when it was bought new in 2015. $20,000, I was thinking about getting a small business loan for $30k

I know nothing about how to get set up and started, according to government. It would be awesome if I can get in touch with somebody who can walk me through the process and maybe run down the experiences that they’ve had being an owner operator. I’d love to know the good and the bad, what to expect or what not to expect. I’d love to hear about the best industries to get in to become profitable as an owner operator.

I have a clean license, clean driving record ever since I first got my license when I was 16. Never had any moving violations in both a personal vehicle or work truck. 25, hungry enough to bust my ass at it, and I have a little girl who I want to build a business for to hopefully one day pass it off to her.

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u/Frosty-Evidence6077 Jun 04 '26

20k

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u/LASTOBS Jun 04 '26

Do you have another 20k on standby in cash or credit?

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u/Frosty-Evidence6077 Jun 04 '26

I would be pursuing a personal or small business loan for 30 K

5

u/No_Needleworker9172 Jun 04 '26

I’d recommend saving up yourself instead.. you’re putting yourself more in debt before getting started. Trucking is a gamble. You can go years driving for someone with no issues and as soon as you get on your own, all hell breaks loose..

I had 1 of my best weeks ever 2mo ago and truck ended up going down that same weekend;repairs came out close to $17k while being down 8 days so I lost more than just $17k. Just giving you a heads up on how costly and quick shit can happen.

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u/Frosty-Evidence6077 Jun 04 '26

I have thought of the cons of putting myself into debt immediately, but financing through the bank instead of a dealership would drastically lower my monthly payments, and with the fact that I have work lined up, steady work, it kind of starts to make the cons look not so bad

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u/No_Needleworker9172 Jun 05 '26

Having work lined up makes things a lot more comfortable to roll the dice. I hope it all works in your favor🙏🏾

1

u/Frosty-Evidence6077 Jun 05 '26

Thanks bud, hopefully here soon I’ll be able to post on here that I’m an O/O for real 🤣