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Q&A: What are the specific steps to follow to become an independent OTR truck driver with your own authority?
The pictures have nothing to do with the content!!

My friend has been an over-the-road truck driver leased to a company and wishes to be completely on his own. Without appearing uneducated to his fellow co-workers, he asked me to post the question here.

Q&A:

Answer by jwood
buy your own truck as my husband did but remember you still have to answer to the company you haul for they have specific rules you ahve to follow to haul their product. in a sense you are never really your own boss.. sad huh?!

Answer by Trey S
It isn’t terribly difficult, although it does get pretty expensive to get things started. He’s going to need his MC# or Motor Carrier number. He will need his USDOT number. He will need a process server in all 48 states. He will need to permit in all the states that require it (or at least the ones he will haul in). He will need Tractor and Trailer insurance as well as cargo insurance. Will also need bobtail insurance. There are many many companies that will do most of this for him. I’m including a link to one. He’s probably looking at around 6-8000 bucks for everything depending on the insurance which will depend on his driving record. If he hauls Hazmat or High Value loads, that will affect the insurance also to the tune of several thousand bucks in extra insurance.

Hope this helps you out.

Additionally, he’ll need to find a few good brokers to deal with in order to find freight. I used to work for Prime Inc, and while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them for a lease driver, they have an excellent program on their Prime Logistics department which will allow him to enter into a trailer interchange program. This would allow him to haul their trailers. He could use his own as well. But they have good freight, and would still be able to use his own broker if freight gets slow for Prime. Just thought I’d add that in.

Keep thinking of other things: He’s going to need to maintain records just as if he were a trucking company with 3000 trucks. This includes personal records of employees (even if it’s only him), and enroll himself in a random drug screen and physical program. If I think of anything else I’ll mod the post again.

And I’m responding to the guy with the fuel and tire thing: It is entirely possible to do this. He will need to make sure that he is charging adequately for fuel surcharges and the like. Additionally by driving slower, he will increase his fuel economy and prolong tire life dramatically. There is a reason that Swift has their trucks set for a max speed of 65. Prime logistics has a really good record of getting a good fuel surcharge. Because they are so large they are able to negotiate excellent fuel surcharges from customers, as well as a considerable discount on fuel from the larger fuel stops like TA, pilot, and Petro. This issue makes broker selection important as he will need to insure that they are charging a fuel surcharge on their loads and not simply hauling for a per mile fee.

Answer by bearcat
I am sorry to say this, but an Owner Operator is a thing of the past. Fuel, tires, and insurance make it cost prohibative. You cant compete with larger corp carriers. You would have to live in the truck to make break even, and thats IF you can get loads and get paid!!!

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!