Question for Experienced Owner/Operators

CBrown1818 · Aug 30, 2011

I am brand new to expediting and just bought a Chevy 3500 Extended CV.

I was wondering if any experienced cargo van owner/operators would be willing to disclose what they would estimate their average annual income has been over the years after expenses but before taxes?

Also I understand that expediting is seasonal. which time(s) of the year is generally the best for expediting, and which time(s) of the year are the hardest?

I'm curious to know what to expect after being in business for a while. I am certainly willing to accept uncertainty and am looking forward to the work, regardless of what it pays, but it would be nice to have a few estimates so I can plan for the future.

Thanks!

leezaback · Aug 30, 2011

I'm not a van-but the busy season is comming-sept-dec, then it will slow down jan-feb-march-then pickes up again. Some years jan and feb can be great.

CBrown1818 · Aug 30, 2011

Cool thanks for the reply!

Any takers on an income estimate??

leezaback · Aug 30, 2011

Welcome to the world of expediting.

BillChaffey · Aug 30, 2011

Your question has been asked & answered many times over the years. The answer is in "Search" but I can't tell you how to do it.

P.S. most Cargo Van O\O will tell you to stay away.

zack100 · Aug 30, 2011

CBrown1818 said:
I am brand new to expediting and just bought a Chevy 3500 Extended CV. I was wondering if any experienced cargo van owner/operators would be willing to disclose what they would estimate their average annual income has been over the years after expenses but before taxes?

Bill's correct in that the question has been addressed many times, not just for a CV but also a Sprinter, S/T, etc ....... so use the search tab, read thru many, many old posts and you'll learn a lot. You'll find there is not a "one" simple answer to the question of income. Depends on your carrier, how you run, cpm, fsc, expenses, d/h, etc.......... It was noted on the profile your company is Try Hours. There's also a carrier forum toward the bottom of the home page in which you can post other Try Hours o/o's. As a final note, since the van is already purchased the learning curve is straight up. Do the homework, ask other drivers while on the road and continue learning. Drive safe

greg334 · Aug 30, 2011

Well let's see...

It used to be that you could gross 60k in a van without too much difficulties, but those were better times. I would think depending on your expenses, it would be a hard question to answer and seeing no van people are stepping up, I would venture to just guess that $24k may be a realisitic number after expenses.

The seasonal thing is pretty much a carrier driven thing, dependent on their customer base or if they even have one. A lot of carrier will use load boards to find work, while others actually have customers they service - who would have thought?

July is usually a slow time, but also January is too. Some of my best vanning months were February into march and June through August.

What to expect?

Uncertainty.

Really... that and sitting.

IF I was going to give a piece of good advice, it is track every penny of your expenses and be frugal. Once you know what it costs you to run that van, then you can determine what rate makes you money and what doesn't. If you think about it, it will make you money in the long run to keep track of everything.

paullud · Aug 30, 2011

I am running my numbers and will be posting some information about earnings and issues. It might give you an idea on what to expect in the beginning. If you don't have 3 months of expenses saved up I wouldn't get involved right now because it will likely cause you to fail. This really isn't something to get involved in without good financial backing because something is going to break and it could be really expensive. I think to many people look at jumping into a CV as a cheap way to make a bunch of money. It is cheap compared to a big truck but you can still lose everything and given that it seems CV's are on the way out I wish I would've gotten into this with a different vehicle. I hope to have all the numbers together shortly along with some other examples of mistakes I have made that hopefully you can avoid and become successful.

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

ebsprintin · Aug 30, 2011

Greg is in the right neighborhood. It's possible to have $22K in your pocket at the end of the year if you don't spend any money on yourself during the year. I post some of my raw data in the bolt express carrier forum.

Do a search for {"cargo van" revenue} with the quote marks but without the brackets. It won't give you the kind of annual numbers you want, but there is a good sample of what the financial environment looks like for cargo vans.

eb

CBrown1818 · Aug 30, 2011

Awesome! Thanks everyone for the honest replies. I did see a lot of income estimates while searching around but I wasn't sure if I should believe the numbers I was seeing. Many carriers say you will earn $4000-$6000 per month. I'm glad to hear it directly from the horse's mouth.

Either way I guess there's no turning back now. I've always been one for learning things the hard way, here it goes!