Married Couple Looking to Team Drive/Sprinter Van

[IftheyOnlyKnewMe]

Hi everyone, I am extremely new to most of this. My husband is a former Truck Driver he holds a Class A CDL and well I... am just a regular driver out there in world. Anyway, My husband and myself would like to get started driving with a company. We do NOT have our own van, however we would like to get there at some point... it is just not in the cards at this time. We have looked into watching people on YT regarding being a sprinter van driver etc... not really run into anyone who is a team driver giving any useful information that would help get us started. I joined a few FB groups and that really hasn't gotten me anywhere either when asking questions, so I thought why not here? We want to be able to gather as much information we can about getting into this and if it is completely worth it for us to get out there when there has been so many people saying not so great things, like being stuck out for weeks with no loads and not making any money etc. That doesn't sound great to me. I just want to know I would be making the right decision as I do have a home and would plan on eventually coming back to it every now and then because I do have older kids at home. I have been OTR with my husband before when he was trucking and we used to live in travel trailer for about 3 years and I absolutely love driving and traveling there is no bother there. I know I am rambling and some people reading is like... just get to the point. So with all that ramble here are some questions I am generally curious about.

What is the likelihood of being stuck out to where you can't drive anywhere?
Do sprinter vans run like traditional truckers? e.g. Drive for 12 hours, shut down for 10 etc (or is it just drive for as long as you can and switch out with your partner if you have one?
Are there van owners that want you to drive their vehicles and they end up screwing you over on pay? and if that happens... what do you do in that situation?
Is there a possibility to only Run local for a while, like stay within a certain radius of your home until you get a feel or end up making enough $$$ to be able to stay out longer and go further?
Does everyone sleep in there van or do you get hotels on occasion?
How much $$$ is recommended that you have as a safety net before you get started Driving with an owner?
Any other advice and or tips that you suggest that my husband & I do before we get into this.
I am completely aware of record keeping etc with your loads and all that ( I am pretty good with that sort of thing)

As I am awaiting responses, I will be doing a deep dive into the threads on this forum hoping to gather more information regarding team driving with a sprinter van with owners because we don't have our own yet.
We just don't want to jump in blindly not knowing what we are in for.

 

[danthewolf00]

Hi everyone, I am extremely new to most of this. My husband is a former Truck Driver he holds a Class A CDL and well I... am just a regular driver out there in world. Anyway, My husband and myself would like to get started driving with a company. We do NOT have our own van, however we would like to get there at some point... it is just not in the cards at this time. We have looked into watching people on YT regarding being a sprinter van driver etc... not really run into anyone who is a team driver giving any useful information that would help get us started. I joined a few FB groups and that really hasn't gotten me anywhere either when asking questions, so I thought why not here? We want to be able to gather as much information we can about getting into this and if it is completely worth it for us to get out there when there has been so many people saying not so great things, like being stuck out for weeks with no loads and not making any money etc. That doesn't sound great to me. I just want to know I would be making the right decision as I do have a home and would plan on eventually coming back to it every now and then because I do have older kids at home. I have been OTR with my husband before when he was trucking and we used to live in travel trailer for about 3 years and I absolutely love driving and traveling there is no bother there. I know I am rambling and some people reading is like... just get to the point. So with all that ramble here are some questions I am generally curious about.

What is the likelihood of being stuck out to where you can't drive anywhere?
Do sprinter vans run like traditional truckers? e.g. Drive for 12 hours, shut down for 10 etc (or is it just drive for as long as you can and switch out with your partner if you have one?
Are there van owners that want you to drive their vehicles and they end up screwing you over on pay? and if that happens... what do you do in that situation?
Is there a possibility to only Run local for a while, like stay within a certain radius of your home until you get a feel or end up making enough $$$ to be able to stay out longer and go further?
Does everyone sleep in there van or do you get hotels on occasion?
How much $$$ is recommended that you have as a safety net before you get started Driving with an owner?
Any other advice and or tips that you suggest that my husband & I do before we get into this.
I am completely aware of record keeping etc with your loads and all that ( I am pretty good with that sort of thing)

As I am awaiting responses, I will be doing a deep dive into the threads on this forum hoping to gather more information regarding team driving with a sprinter van with owners because we don't have our own yet.
We just don't want to jump in blindly not knowing what we are in for.

Ok fleet owners are a wide gambit and you need a contract to protect yourself and your husband.
Bolt out of toledo,ohio is a good starter company. But load one out of Taylor,Michigan is good.
Hours of service only kick in if you run hazardous materials in a van....and never ever run over weight because the fines are ridiculous. And for vehicle safety.
So door tag weight minus full tank of fuel and all your gear plus you both ... that will be your weight limit.

 

[pelgrn]

You're wise to be inquiring before committing. Team driving in a van isn't for everyone. As for me and my wife, we absolutely love it and so does one of my other teams. I've had others decide it wasn't for them. But you seem to already have a grasp of what it takes. In my experience as a team, we rarely get "stuck" but that depends on location, and the day of the week (as weekends and holidays tend to be slower). There's options of empty moves where the company pays you to relocate or you can request hometime and they help to find loads going either close to your home or at least in the right direction (if your home base is in the northwestern states). Getting back out could also be a challenge. The company I lease my fleet with, doesn't require any logs in a van so you can run as much as you want or shut down if you need/want to. I have drivers that came from previous owners that had some very bad experiences so you do need to be careful and look over their contract before signing. Good luck.

 

[IftheyOnlyKnewMe]

Thanks so much, yeah I don't think living in a van with my hubby will be a problem. We have been annoying each other for years and we are still together after 16 years lol. We actually love being around each other tbh so that is definitely not an issue. We actually live in NE Ohio and after speaking to a few people we went ahead and put in an app into Load One Transport as I was told it was a good starter company also we definitely don't have our van, but maybe someday we will. I just want to make sure it is worth it for us. I do know based upon our bills at the very least we need to make $500 a week on the low end. Just enough to pay what is necessary. I was told that we should definitely be making that I would imagine even if it were a little slow. I don't know, but we will see what happens. Hopefully we hear something from the company to see if they have any fleet owners out there for us. Will be updating if we hear anything. Thanks for the advice and feedback much appreciated.

 

[tpsphoto]

HI. So my wife and I are in your same position and i was wondering what you have come up with since your post back in October now that it’s a couple months later. I have a Class A CDL and have driven fuel tankers for the last 17 years but now want a change. We are currently traveling in our RV out west because this past june i decided it was time to take a break and reconsider what i want to do in the next chapter of my life. So far all the research I’ve done points to there is no money in expediting and owning a van, and working for a fleet owner is even more depressing. The numbers i have come up with for working for a carrier like Panther or Barrett seem to be about $1.00 per mile with an average of 2200-4000 miles per week. If you take that number and average it out to be 3100 miles per week for two people , that’s $3100 per week and you haven’t paid for your van payment if you purchased a new one so that’s minus $300 week avg. Fuel for those 3100 miles is going to cost about $1100 for the week if you average 13 mpg. Repair fund for WHEN the van breaks down and normal maintenance $200 week. Then hold onto about 25% for quarterly taxes= $775.00. And then insurance thru a carrier such as Barrett runs about $125 a week i was told. So after all expenses your looking at $650 in profit for the week . Even worse is if you divide that by the actual two people driving as a team you each made $325 for the week. That is absolutely pathetic and worse then working at a McDonalds. Would somebody please correct my numbers if I’m wrong somewhere? Cause i really wanted this to be profitable, but i just dont see how it can be. And those numbers came up using an average of 3100 miles. Can you imagine how quick you’d be negative for the week if it was really slow and you only did 1500 miles.