Cost to run a lorry?

[JD450A]

Smaller lorries cost less and IMHO are a more profitable venture for muckaway/deliveries.... everyone has 8 leggers or six's. But 13-17 ton wagons are unusual and you can graft a good name with one. You will never purchase a lorry suitable for every job, the Skip wagon I have is bloody versatile until you hit anything 6' or wider.

I've not paid more than 6k for anything in that size range.... but a 6 or 8 legger will be over £14,000 for anything decent.... and if your doing city work you will need something newish with euro bollocks.

Your license for class 2 is on the money at around £2000
CPC Initial will be around £250

O License is something to get your head around. Two types are relevant, Restricted and Domestic (UK) Haulage. I run Restricted, which allows me to transport good's in MY OWNERSHIP OR ON HIRE TO ME. So I am charging per bin for muckaway, the muck is mine therefore I can run on it, same delivering aggregate as I own the goods and am charging for the item, not being paid to haul it. Quite a few big supermarkets run on restricted believe it or not.

Restricted O license is around £3600 standing capital for a single lorry. You also need around £800 total for the application and a suitable yard.

Your 6/8/13 weeklys (can be anything from once a week to 13 weeks depending on use etc) will be around £300 a time provided there is nothing wrong with the truck.

Insurance for me is £2000, but we have had quotes up to £10,000

Lorries aren't cheap and Haulage doesn't pay as well as you may think.... Only thing I do with the lorry that justifies it's financial existence is muckaway.

Oh and Road tax.... my lorry is cheaper than the pickup at £250 odd a year

 

[Mogman]

TPFT or comp?

Fully comp but got a few years no clams

 

[Gez_lewis]

Running lorrys can be great at time and is always handy, but then you get a week where you have a king pin to change on 1 2 intermittent air leaks and abs fault and and artic tax that makes you cry

 

[Quattromike]

I think we're considering changing our little truck for a crane truck. Probably 23t/m crane with flat bed on. I'd like a beaver tail or cheese wedge but think our budget is too tight for that. This is a nice wagon with a bit of grunt

 

[Gez_lewis]

must be a rare beast that one

 

[Smiffy]

What size machines are you looking to carry ??

 

[Quattromike]

TBH if we can lift a 3.5ton 20ft container on board it would probably suffice. Our current truck is a little merc atego we’ve been happy with, wouldn’t mind another merc

 

[Smiffy]

TBH if we can lift a 3.5ton 20ft container on board it would probably suffice. Our current truck is a little merc atego we’ve been happy with, wouldn’t mind another merc

Obviously all 6 wheelers will manage a container but if your looking to move plant 6 wheel crane lorrys will be quite restrictive weight wise and you have to be careful of axle loadings
Ask for a picture of the plating certificate as some of them are converted tractor units with very low front axle weights some as low as 6 tonnes

 

[Joey123]

He’s the best advice you’ll ever have, DON’T BE A TWAT and buy a grab lorry. The figures you talk regarding price of buying a truck and maintenance is a million miles out. If you are really really stupid and intent on buying a grab buy mine I’ll even give you all our own work and you can have all our customers, Birmingham based.

 

[Brendan]

He’s the best advice you’ll ever have, DON’T BE A TWAT and buy a grab lorry. The figures you talk regarding price of buying a truck and maintenance is a million miles out. If you are really really stupid and intent on buying a grab buy mine I’ll even give you all our own work and you can have all our customers, Birmingham based.

Grabs really that bad earnings wise?

 

[V8Druid]

Grabs really that bad earnings wise?

think the post says it all @Brendan

 

[JD450A]

Grabs really that bad earnings wise?

It's what your competing against.

A grab takes between 10-30 mins to load, average tip distance is normally about a hours round trip (times your tipped etc) if your lucky. If your out at £300 or less for a 8 legger (And Most are!) which holds 15t and your paying £10 - £15 a ton to tip (Not unusual) then your hourly profits are minimal.

Find a Niche and hide in it.

 

[Jimoz]

Think that's slim then a firm here run grabs 150+vat, tip back at they're yard then reload into 8wheel tippers to have taken away and tipped. How it pays I don't know but he's been about awhile. Perhaps a bit shy on filling them up? He does skips to and he said to me he gets the skip muckaway into the same loads that's his bonus but still can't work it out.

 

[Smiffy]

Think that's slim then a firm here run grabs 150+vat, tip back at they're yard then reload into 8wheel tippers to have taken away and tipped. How it pays I don't know but he's been about awhile. Perhaps a bit shy on filling them up? He does skips to and he said to me he gets the skip muckaway into the same loads that's his bonus but still can't work it out.

Does he process in his yard ??
A couple round here do similar so that each lorry tipping in the yard then runs out full of either recycled type 1 or topsoil so minimum distances covered empty
My boss says that running lorrys loose him money but having them males him money if that makes sense
There expensive to run but he can do everything himself and having a crane is always useful
They can sit on site all day whilst being loaded or unloaded
And so on
His lorrys never move material for anyone else

 

[Russell]

There all around £100+vat round here plus tip charges. I think if you have a yard/ farm it would be easier and might work but looks like a big gamble if you would have to rent somewhere.

 

[Joey123]

These problems exist in our area,
1 - Grab lorry on every street corner.
2 - People have the in inability to use a calculator.
3 - Grab lorries do about 5.2 - 5.7 to the gallon.
4 - Maintenance costs are astronomical.
5 - Customers will drop you for a savings of less then a fiver a load.
6 - Tips close without warning so at the blink of a eye your now doing 3hr round trips to tip and still people don’t put rates up.
7 - Soon as a tip shuts everyone will try and head to the next nearest tip and try work that area so overnight the grab lorry capacity in a certain area can double.

I decided to put our grab service on the back burner for while and concentrate on our groundworks / digger and driver service. I had to use a few of the other grabs and Jesus that was a eye opener, talk about shite, holes in pavement where leg been put down, fences damaged, Dropped s**t everywhere, short loaded and the mess they left. It took me a good hr to tidy up after one fella, tell you now our grab came stright back out but only for our own jobs now mainly and a few loyal customers.

But people will still use the s**t one’s who blag them on weights to get more out the job, some grab guys tell customers they carry 20t. In reality they carry 16 and then they pile it up in the middle and take 13t but people still use because there cheaper by 10 quid.

If I’m gonna earn Nowt all I’ll earn nowt sitting at home, oh and the toss pots who won’t pay, you know the one’s, the hospitalised one’s, the grieving one’s, the I’ve had my card robbed one’s, I sent a cheque last week one’s, waiting for my customer to pay one’s.

I’ve seen so many driveway, builders, ground workers think it’s A. The easy life and B. a money spinner and doesn’t take long for them to be putting the lorry up for sale.

My advice, keep well away from anything above 18t unless it’s solely for your own work, guaranteed you will not make it pay.

 

[Quattromike]

A truck will depreciate approx. 10% of its value every year. The nicer the truck the nicer the depreciation figure

 

[Jimoz]

Ouch. That grab bloke I mentioned just bought 2 volumetric wagons. Around 100k each 2 year old

 

[Quattromike]

Ouch. That grab bloke I mentioned just bought 2 volumetric wagons. Around 100k each 2 year old

If he's got the means to buy 2 trucks like that I'm sure there's nothing coming over him

 

[Jimoz]

I'm sure they will be financed up. How much concrete have you got to do a year to pay for 10k depreciation, fuel repairs maintenance, wages then aggregate and cement?!
Said he's got good deal on agg but still must have big balls