Considerations of Starting Your Own Small Trucking Business
If you are a licenced driver who has shipping experience, you may consider starting your own small business. This can be a lucrative investment if you take time to make the proper preparations. Here are a few of the considerations you should keep in mind when it comes to your licences and the licences of your drivers. Keep in mind, most of the licencing you will need, you likely already have. The other drivers are the largest concerns in order for your trucking business to start off on the right foot.
Knowledge
One of the things you need to consider is the type of knowledge you want your drivers to have. You need to decide if you want them to have the basic driving knowledge and certification, or if you want their licencing courses to include more information, such as logging in their milage, basic maintenance for their equipment to prevent long delays and repairs, and other related information. If you want them to have just the licence, then you can move forward with hiring. If you want them to have specific knowledge, you may want to consider group training that you offer through your business or through a local centre.
Hours of Driving
In addition to the truck licence you require, you may also want your drivers to have a certain number of hours on the road. The benefit to requesting your drivers have a certain number of hours is to ensure they did not have a licence with little to no roadtime. You will need to consider how many hours of road time you want your drivers to have as well. In many cases, at least 100 hours are helpful to ensure the driver knows what they are doing and let you know if they have a safe driving record.
Type of Licence
The type of licence your drivers have is also a consideration. Ideally, you want drivers that are licenced in multiple truck specialties. This means they can drive heavy vehicles as well as rigid trucks and combination vehicles. This means that regardless of your needs, you will have drivers that are equipped to handle the loads and the drives. You will also not have to worry about finding drivers that are specifically licenced for odd loads and orders you may receive.
These are just a few of the licencing and certification considerations you should keep in mind to start your trucking business. If you are ready to get started, contact your local licencing and certification schools for their truck licence class times and offerings. They can help you with certification courses for groups and the benefits of having your drivers take their specialised courses for logging and basic maintenance as well.
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