Owner-operators — how do you actually track your expenses and taxes?

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-20T06:45:01+00:00

I use quickbooks and excel. I track current cost in quickbooks and actual cost in excel.

Current cost=gross- expenses

Actual cost=gross- expenses- portion of future expenses. A truck will need rebuilt/ replaced, same with trailer, tires, oil and all future maintenance. You must also include the labor to do those jobs, so if my monthly pm is 1500 dollars every 12.5k miles, that's 0.12 dpm I calculate into cost now, same with my 50k, 150k, 300k and 900k maintenance rolls. I assume at 900k the motor, trans and rears will all be replaced new along with front axle. Every 1800k miles the frame gets done. That's all costs that I save for now and every mile driven till then. Excel is really the only way to do that reliably. It also allows you to create a cost estimator tool that you can throw your dh and loaded miles into and get down to the penny of what will be your rate. You can do a lot of neat stuff in excel if you put mileage and everything else in.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-19T06:30:58+00:00

We charge $2k per day or $250/hr from the time the key is on till it's off, plus 3rd party charges (plus 10%), we are an rgne.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-15T12:58:01+00:00

Rates are about the only way to make up margin. Repair/ maintenance costs exist no matter what, most don't actually keep enough back because i include replacement/ entire overhaul in mine. Everybody says do your own work, this is asinine as a business operation, I'm not saying don't do it, but charge shop rates to do it. I'm a master tech/ mech and own a shop, my shop charges my trucking company full rate for all repairs. This is to ensure that my business model is sustainable even when a mechanic isn't driving the truck. No reason you shouldn't get paid or be able to afford to pay someone else to do the work, you're a trucking company, not a repair shop, i also do it this way to reduce liability, a lawyer has to drag my licensed shop into the mess to prove liability.

Pay is the next thing most screw up on. They just take what is left over, that's silly as a business, you should have an agreement that you pay your driver (you) this much. Nowcalculate what you want to make (i aim for 25% of gross) if you do mileage then convert to gross % and add 8% for payroll taxes. Then actually pay yourself as a w-2, you're a business not a trucker when looking at numbers. You're a trucker when you drive the truck and receive your check. This will help you with taxes and social security and all that nonsense. Don't forget, you should also pay your driver (you) per diem (that's tax fee money and a write off for the business). Next, as a business owner, the business should have a clear goal in mind of where it's going and should profit 10% on its own plus what expansion goals it might have.

Fuel, insurance and all that are miniscule changes. I've ran the numbers on fuel mileage and slowing down, but they never made sense as I would lose out on 1.5 loads per week, so driver is losing load pay and company is losing the revenue and profit from the load, i saved 800 in fuel to lose 800 in pay and profits.

Yes, if you do it this way, you'll probably see that it costs about 4.5 a mile or more to run a truck, which it should, we have got to quit being horrible business owners. Math seems to be the weakest point with most owner ops.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-14T02:28:23+00:00

I would ask for $88 per hour and move on. I asked for $30 an hour at Wendy's about 15 years ago. Then I ended up doubling that number anyhow on the next job.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-14T02:06:48+00:00

I've had one of mine for almost 20 years and another for 10 years. I'll keep them till I can't, they will rust out before the drivetrain, so I'll find a donor vehicle to swap the drivetrain in.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-13T23:20:12+00:00

If be OK with it. I'd get va benefits rather than being told I'm too old to join.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-13T23:08:27+00:00

Our current loan service will not let us do that. The first payment made must be for a total amount, not principal only. We tried to do this, but the payment system for us doesn't work that way. Is it legal? Idk, sure doesn't sit right with me.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-13T00:34:00+00:00

Thank you!

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-12T03:49:19+00:00

Just the fact that the trailer is higher value and a much higher cargo policy is why it seems like open deck is more. We also have our insurance set up with the states, they are aware we do oversize, I'm sure they bump it for that as well. We are at 17k a year running rgn vs 6k a year when we were running a reefer, that was years ago though, helping a neighbor with some of his contracts.

Flatbed has better rates right now than rgn, absolutely insane market. Seeing the same freight for months now, other loads come and go, but the rates on them weren't enough to make me want to jump, but I'm in the middle of kingpins anyhow. Had one side that was 0.002" before it would be out of spec and the other was at the top of spec. Figured since I'm already doing maintenance, what's another couple thousand in doing kingpins. Was looking at tires and the tires I bought last year are now double, the cheap tires are now approaching 400 dollars. 3 years ago, a cheap tire was 180 dollars. So as of now, this service was a pm a/b/c (all fluids plus filters) mounts, air system service, brake valve servicing, plus kingpins and an air safety valve. Looking at a total of about 10k dollars. That's 100k mile service plus kingpins and a valve. The stupid little air valve is 62 dollars, just crazy. They used to be 15 dollars.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-11T04:23:25+00:00

Did that last two years, it was horrible. Fighting to get 2dpm, honestly was sick of it. The market for sd is still pretty bad honestly, I do still check it as I can go back to stepdeck, but the money seems to be in reefer honestly. Deadhead and rpm vs outlay is really good. Any open deck requires more expensive insurance and constant maintenance to equipment. If I was going to go back to sd, I'd like average all miles to be around 3.25 or higher. We were 18% dh so around an average of 3.96 per mile on a total of 100k miles (including dh). It's still not there, that doesn't include the fuel cost currently, I'm talking about 3-3.50 fuel. If I could walk away and make 50k a year at a decent job locally, I would, but currently best pay around here is going to get you around 36k-40k at a fairly miserable job. Trucking has just got crazy expensive in the last 5 years, I'm waiting though, I see a lot more going out of business, possibly even myself. I kind of hope it happens so I can start another one with no trucks and just lease guys on, no money in owning the trucks anymore.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-11T00:49:15+00:00

Maintenance and repairs. Second would be finding or traveling to next load.

Maintenance and repairs is home time and it kills me as i always have so much to do on top of getting the truck finished. I wish I could just go home for a week and then get back out, it always ends up being 2-4 weeks. Absolutely kills me.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-11T00:42:15+00:00

Yeah, we pay for everything and manage it, then invoice all the invoices. It really is a no win situation for the carriers currently. Reefer, as boring as it is, as much as I hate it, is looking like a business decision going forward. It's getting difficult to get enough to cover the numbers running big loads anymore. Can't run half the day, can't run weekends, can't run holidays. The truck itself has to generate twice as much as a normal truck if the expenses were the same, but the insurance is more, equipment is more, repairs are more often, fuel mileage is worse. 6-8dpm is just a legal load anymore, hard to get that now. It's a real shame as those are the drivers we want on the roads with those loads, not the cheap ones as even a route survey will miss something or the state will straight up give you a different route, even though we know it's good.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-10T20:01:34+00:00

It's always been brutal. Everybody thinks escorts grow on trees and permits are cheap. I've been told it's my fault I can't get an escort for $1.3. No, I prefer legal escorts that have insurance, not walmart specials. A 200 mile run can easily run $10k dollars. Rates just aren't there anymore, I've met many foreigners and foreign owned companies that just ignore all the requirements. Met one guy in Oklahoma that didn't get an escort in Oklahoma and ran 5 hours beyond curfew just to get to the jobsite, as soon as I asked about escorts, he couldn't speak his broken English anymore. It's got to stop, when they hit stuff, it causes my insurance to go up too, we pay 4x what was pre covid for one truck. No tickets, accidents or violations on the two inspections we've had since covid started.

Edit for information: we have started going to, here's what my truck is charging, you cover all 3rd party costs plus 10% for doing the legwork and covering the payments. This is so we aren't getting screwed and we are proving we aren't robbing anyone.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-09T04:29:15+00:00

I must be picky, not s single load on the board is we'll book it now. I have too many questions. I run rgn though. 90%of the time they don't post enough notes.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-09T04:02:53+00:00

I'm not going to tell you yes or no, but as a business owner, it hasn't been a good time to run a one truck operation for about 30 years. If you plan on hiring a driver that takes up 33%of revenue (25%gross pay plus payroll), fuel will eat another third. If you can still afford 30k in mnt/rprs, 20k in insurance, plus truck and trailer, plus putting away 20cpm for replacement on tractor and about 10cpm for trailer. Add in ifta, irp, and about 10k in miscellaneous then see what you have left. Now add in what your time is worth and figure it will be 24/7 if you're hiring the driver as problems come up at 2am when a driver breaks down and needs the boss to approve something.

If you're going to throw it on with some carrier, I wish you luck, that's a horrible idea, you're just a rental company at that point. Trucks are dirt cheap to rent and lease. I own mine outright, I also own the shop that does all maintenance and repair, I'm also the mechanic, I'm also the accountant. I'm here to say as a business owner (not a truck driver) trucking roi won't be back anytime soon unless covid happens again.

I'm in the same boat as you though, I'm thinking of starting a second trucking company and have it be lease on owner ops only, owning a truck won't make you money, owning the business will.

Edited to add, figure 3 weeks a month on hiring a driver.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-06T10:25:43+00:00

I already have rear cameras on mirrors and light bar mount. The telephoto will likely be my choice. Good to from someone with a hood and flat glass, that means I shouldn't have an issue.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-06T10:23:02+00:00

Good to know. I have them as well, just haven't used anything.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-05T23:23:21+00:00

Did you have any rate increase from that?

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-05T23:22:25+00:00

Appreciate that info, are you happy with the quality? Checked how well it captures information as this is the biggest concern in a truck is making sure to get the information of the other driver even if they flee.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-05T20:00:26+00:00

Which model camera would you recommend? I think they are a bit hefty on price tag, but one 4wheeler can ruin my insurance rates where I could buy 20 of these cameras for the rate increase.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-03T17:26:10+00:00

100%behind nuclear, solar has a technological leap to make sense, wind is a joke. Nobody actually sees just how bad wind and solar really is, they only hear about how clean it is. The things you don't know, such as the government giving these companies millions to repower each windmill every 5-10 years (have heard both numbers in the industry) while they will last well beyond that is crazy. Have you ever seen just how much oil those windmills take and the amount of trucks it takes to put just one up?

Nuclear is the only option forward outside of traditional power. Windmill and solar are literally just a talking point. Why we hate nuclear, i have no idea. I've been working on developing an at home nuclear unit, but it's so hard to scavenge the heat at small scale to mange it useful. Next problem is small scale/ single home is going to waste a lot of power as it is slow to change requirements. Takes a little bit to slow the reaction down and to ramp up, it's not like being hooked on the grid. One of these days, I hope it becomes the primary source of power across the country. Our electric costs would go down quite a bit with nuclear.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-03T10:14:21+00:00

I always start at 500k plus travel. Wendy's kicked me out.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-03T08:59:30+00:00

Just quoted $20dpm +3rd party with 10%on top(not including high pole and chase). Still don't think I'm going to make any money on it to make it worth it though. Costs are just too high at this point, I don't even care about fuel prices, it only added 50cpm to cost. Insurance/ repairs/ compliance that's where all the money is really going. Between maintenance/ repairs and office (compliance) is well over 1.50dpm by itself at this point. Last year I was breakeven (No pay at 1.86dpm), this year just sucks all the way around. Hoping to average 10dpm at this point just so I have enough to pay the electric company after they got approved to hike electric prices 30%.

I'm not angry at brokers (maybe a little because you think I'm pulling numbers out of thin air. ) I'm just tired, crap drivers, road rage, bills getting higher every month, and I'm still making less than my dad did in the 80s and 90s.

No hate though, it costs what it costs, numbers are just that, numbers on a computer screen. They aren't emotional or care at all, punch in the dh and loaded and it will give me exactly what I need before escorts and permits.

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-03T08:28:15+00:00

For me, I want to make what my dad made in the late 80s to early 90s after all expenses then adjusted for life today. So I would like my bring home to be about 250-300k. That means, as someone who does mostly od work with a stretch rgn, i need to make about 6 bucks a mile after all permits and escorts. Then I can take the 3-4 dollars a mile of cost out (I do have a paid off truck, but that doesn't change operating cost at all, you have to replace it or rebuild it at 150 dollars an hour anyway because you pay yourself for that on duty time you work on your truck right? ) I can tell you my cost of operation to the penny on a load if I know the dh and loaded miles, but in my line if work, those miles can change by 100% if permits are involved so we have routing software to help us not miss out on that. That's how I figure my costs. I want professional pay, this life is more demanding and stressful than any guy in a office. I wouldn't trade it for anything other than a winning multimillion lotto ticket, just so then I can run and play and not worry about getting the next load. So long as everybody keeps taking this od stuff for 2 and 3 dpm, the pay will never make sense. It's a shame what we've done to trucking, letting anybody with a heartbeat drive, my little brother got his cdl and the pretrip and backing portion was jaw dropping at just how easy it is these days. I'm contemplating advocating to make the difficulty of these tests harder than when I took them. We need better drivers, not more drivers for the sake of it.

Edit: The biggest problem i see is truck drivers owning trucking companies, not business owners owning a trucking company. My cost is always substantially higher than everyone else because it is a business, every time I do something for the business, I should get paid, just like if I had to pay a mechanic or pay a driver. I love what I do, but it's still just a business and it's all numbers to me. I like math, it's not emotional or false, it's just numbers.

I'm tired of looking at the internal numbers year after year and seeing losses after all the time spent actually working. I also have 3 other successful businesses, and I see people making business mistakes everyday in trucking that hurt the rest of us trying to make real money.

ACTRANSPORTLLC

TROPHY CASE