Company Truck Driver or Owner Operator? the Pros and Cons

You've been driving for a company as a over the road truck driver for years and wonder if you should go it on your own and buy your own truck? You heard the money is phenomenal comparied to being a company driver. Even though you do get paid alot more money the big difference is that now all the expenses are your own, instead of the companies and it takes a large chunk of that pay difference.

Expenses such as Maintenance, Road Taxes, Permits, Truck payment, Tolls, Fuel, Workermans Compensation,Insurances and Self Employment Taxes are now your responsibility to pay, not the companies. Some company drivers get paid for their time to sit or come home empty, you sit or have no load to come home with as an owner operator you make no money. What you get left with after you pay all your expenses isn't much more than what you are receiving being a company driver, just now you have all the headaches.

My husband drove for a company for 4 years before buying his own tractor and trailer. We made thousands of dollars a week hauling compared to hundreds driving as a company driver. The first two years we were in business things were good, then 911 happened.

Loads stopped moving, less and less runs were being offered, the economy and driving industry came to a halt. This halt caused alot of headaches for alot of owner operators, and in that down time , the bills kept accumulating, and the money wasn't there. Thousands of owner operators went out of business between this and the cost of diesel.

When we first started we paid $1.80 per gallon for diesel, look at it now, in 2002 our diesel bill tripled, tolls went up 30 percent, and insurance rocketed.

We had alot of headaches with breakdowns now we had to fix it and not run, we had road tax audits, workman comp audits, luckily enough I took Accounting in College to get us through this with flying colors, but for many you would have to hire out to do road taxes and your income taxes. There is alot of paperwork involved and you have to be accurate. One mistake can cost you big bucks.

My husband got fined for a 15 minute log book violation $1000 dollars later, we were in a worse hurt than before. When you are a company driver they usually pay for your infractions for being over weight, log book violations, etc. We missed being a company driver.

So don't be fooled that you will make so much money with your own truck and trailer, in this economy I wouldn't chance it. Let the company have the headaches, just get paid to drive and that's all.

We ended up getting out of the trucking business after 5 years of doing it on our own, we sold our truck and trailer and now my husband gets big trucks with a big wrecker when they get into accidents. We don't miss the life at all.

I am much happier he is home every night, and not having the headaches that came from being married to a truck driver and the expense of it.