Expenses for an Owner-Operator
Are you an owner-operator, or are you looking to become a truck driver? If so, you have a lot on your plate– not only do you have to work long hours on the road, but you also have to be the administrator of a small company. You have to balance work and keeping up with your finances at the same time. So what exactly are the expenses of running your own, owner-operator style trucking company? Check out the top five owner-operator expenses below.
1. Gas
When owner-operators drive as many as 110,000 miles per year in a machine that (at best) gets 8 miles per gallon, the cost of gas really adds up. Fuel is the single biggest expense in an owner-operator’s per-mile expenses, averaging around 44.5 cents/mile.
2. Truck & Trailer
Obviously, you’re going to need a truck and a trailer in order to work as an owner-operator (and that is no cheap investment). If you opt to purchase both used, you will generally have to spend nearly $37,500. In an average first-year owner-operator’s cost sheet, that works out to about 34.1 cents per mile spent on the truck and trailer purchase.
3. Maintenance/Repair
Trucks break down, trucks need maintenance– and all of those repairs cost you, on average, around $14,000 in order to keep your rig running. Of course, you can save yourself some money by performing some of the repairs yourself.
4. Insurance, Licensing & Fees
CDL, EIN, UCR, IRP, LLC… we could go on listing more three-letter acronyms for quite a while. The point is, starting your own owner-operator style company requires that you go through a lot of red tapes, and many of the permits and licensing that you need require a fee.
5. Tires
Tires are pricey– around $500 apiece on average. Keeping your rig riding on fresh tires is expensive. Save yourself some wear (and money) by regularly checking your tire pressure.
Financial Solutions
It is no easy task to keep on top of your costs, especially when your clients aren’t giving you payments for your hard work for months at a time. Need some help increase your cash flow? If so, we would love to give you a hand. We offer factoring for motor carriers that can help you make your owner-operator enterprise a success.
We work with the best freight factoring company to help make your truck company thrive with more funding!
