How To Start a Trucking Company

Learning how to start a trucking company will not take you very long.  Being able to start a trucking company might be a little more difficult.  Compared with a lot of home based businesses a trucking company has a lot of up front costs.  You need to buy or lease a truck that will fit the needs of the type of trucking company you want to start.  You will also require a place to park the truck on days you are not out driving.   This article talks about semi trucks and cube vans.

How To Start a Trucking Company Step 1

One of the first things you should do when starting a trucking company is to decide on if you want to be a sole proprietor or if you want to incorporate your company.  There are pros and cons of each and these vary from state to state and province to province so this is an area you should speak with your lawyer about.

In this step you should also decide on a company name and have your lawyer check to see if it is registered or not.  Depending on where you live you might be able to do this through a registration or licensing office.  Once you have a name you will want to get your company a business license in the town or city you live in, or county if you are on a acreage or farm.

At this point you will need to find out from your lawyer or maybe the licensing department on whether you need to have any state or province approvals for the type of business you are starting.   You also need to have insurance for your trucking company.  This will be truck insurance, some kind of cargo insurance, state to state or province to province registration and insurance, and business insurance if required.  Your insurance company should be able to guide you in the right direction, if not your lawyer will.

How To Start a Trucking Company  Step 2

Buying or leasing a truck.  You will need to have a truck to start a trucking company, I think this part is obvious.  You also might need to have a trailer for hauling cargo.  There are many different types of cargo and depending on what you are hauling will dictate the kind of trailer you need to buy.  If you are not in a position to buy a trailer then you will have to start your trucking company off with hauling loads for other trucking companies.

You should have some sort of goals in mind, and if building a trucking company is a goal of yours then you will at some point need a trailer.  Then depending on the size of company you might want multiple trailers or even more trucks and hire drivers.  I am sure you already know the types of trailers that are out there, but I will discuss a few.  If I mess up please comment below.

If you are hauling frozen or fresh products you will need a trailer that is refrigerated.  This is called a reefer.  The unit will be able to keep a constant temperature for your cargo whether it is summer or winter.
If you are hauling heavy equipment you will need a flat bed of some kind.  There are high boys and low boys.  The high boys are generally for carrying cargo that does not need to be covered like pipe, iron, wood.  The low boy are generally for heavy equipment such as bull dozers, backhoes, or graders and such.

Then there are regular trailers that are enclosed that can carry a wide range of goods.

Lastly there is livestock trailers.  These can be slightly different depending on the livestock.  You can have trailers for chickens, pigs, cows, horses, and other livestock.

Smaller Trucks

Cube vans are used if what you are transporting is smaller.  In this case you are still starting a trucking company but often this would be more of a delivery business.  Where you have a smaller route within a city or within a 100 mile radius or something along those lines.  The next steps deal with marketing and work for both types of companies.

How to Start a Trucking Company Step 3 Marketing and getting Clients

You have your business name, you have the truck, you know what you are going to haul and you have the trailer for that cargo.  Time to make some money.  To be successful in the trucking industry you are going to need a steady stream of clients that will be using your services time and time again.

There are many different ways to market a trucking company and some of these ways will work better than others depending on the type of cargo you are hauling.  One strategy that will always work is to always be networking with potential clients.  If your cargo will be livestock then you need to get to know a lot of farmers.  If you are hauling other products you will need to get into that circle of influence.  You should have a website or at least a web presence of some type to make sure your name is out there.  You will from time to time haul products that others normally haul themselves, but if they are over booked or a truck is in the shop they will need to subcontract the job out to someone else.

There are also people that are shipping items across the state or province that will need to find you somehow.  You can join bidding companies online that get clients for you.

If you are delivering goods with a smaller truck you can market more aggressively to people that might be in need of your services.  Every person you work for you should send a thank you note to, I can almost guarantee your thank you note will be the first one they have ever gotten.  An easy way to do this is through this service.

When marketing you can use the yellow pages, direct mail to businesses, newspapers, online and offline classifieds, a website, cold calling and of course networking through associations that deal with the type of clients that would fit your business model.

One thing I should mention is you need to have a drivers license that will allow you to drive the size of truck that you will be using with your trucking business.  Hopefully you knew that part already, lol.

Once you are getting clients on a regular basis you will need to manage your company properly.  This includes managing your time to be as productive as you can.  Using a bookkeeper or accountant instead of doing this yourself.  Keeping your truck in good working order which means regular maintenance.  This also means putting money aside for up keep as well as for when the time comes that you need to buy a new truck.  Bill your clients as soon as you can after you are done.  Or if the industry allows it you might be able to take deposits up front.  Have a lawyer in place in case you need to take someone to court, or if someone takes you to court.  If you don’t have a lawyer check out what these guys have to offer, and at a discount.

Thanks for reading How to Start a Trucking Company, feel free to comment below or ask any questions.  Learn more with this article how to start a company

Kelly

How To Start A Trucking Company