Surviving Your First Year as a New Trucking Company

You have read the guides. You filed the paperwork. Your authority is active. Your truck is running. Now you need to not become a statistic.

This page is not about optimism. It is about the patterns that kill new trucking companies and the habits that prevent them. If you understand what goes wrong, you can avoid it. The truckers who survive year one are not luckier than the ones who don’t — they are better informed.

About half of new trucking companies close within 18 months — and the reasons are always the same

The numbers are blunt. SBA data shows approximately 50% of new trucking businesses close within 18 months. Only about 25% survive past five years. Forum estimates run higher — some experienced operators cite 70% failure among owner-operators who buy their first truck.

These are not random casualties. The failures follow a small set of predictable patterns:

• Running out of cash before revenue stabilizes
• Not knowing actual operating costs
• Taking unprofitable loads to “stay busy”
• One large unexpected expense with no reserves to absorb it
• Compliance failure leading to authority problems
• Insurance lapse

Every one of these is preventable. Not easy to prevent — but knowable in advance.

“EVERYTHING has to go good for you in the first two years. ANYTHING can break you. Freight is down, fuel is up, insurance goes up, accident, bad run on DOT inspections, the economy is bad.” — TruckersReport forum

That quote is not meant to discourage you. It is meant to calibrate your expectations. Year one has no margin for error. The carriers who accept that reality and plan for it are the ones who survive it.

The first 90 days are about survival, not profit

Your first month will be slow. Your authority is new, so most brokers won’t work with you yet. You are learning load boards, building relationships, and figuring out which lanes work for your operation. Revenue will not cover your fixed costs.

Months two and three improve as more brokers onboard you and you stop making the most expensive beginner mistakes. But “improve” means “closer to break-even,” not “profitable.”

What real first-year financials look like:

Motor Carrier HQ documented a detailed case study of a new carrier’s first year:

• Gross revenue (11 months): $202,000
• Total expenses: ~$170,000
• Net income: ~$32,000
• Effective hourly rate: Below what most company drivers earn

That is $202,000 in gross — the number that excites people — producing $32,000 in net — the number that pays your mortgage. The gap between those two numbers is where trucking companies die.

The expenses that eat your gross: fuel ($45,000-$75,000/year), truck payment ($18,000-$30,000), insurance ($12,000-$25,000), maintenance and tires ($13,000-$31,000), permits and fees ($3,000-$8,000), and factoring costs if you use them.

Plan for 2-3 months of below-break-even operation. If you cannot survive that financially, you are not ready.

The 7 things that actually kill new trucking companies

1. Running without cash reserves

This is the number-one killer. Not bad freight markets, not government regulation, not equipment failure. Cash.

The first 90 days consume cash before generating it. Fuel before your first payment. Insurance premiums due now. Truck payment due now. Factoring covers some of the gap but takes 1.5-3% off every load. One unexpected repair — a $2,000 tow, a $400-per-tire blowout, an $800 brake job — can break a carrier with no reserves.

Industry consensus: 3-6 months of operating expenses in liquid reserves, on top of your startup costs. For a single-truck operation, that means $20,000-$40,000 in accessible cash. Not equity. Not credit lines you might qualify for. Cash.

“You’re gonna have a $2,000 wrecker bill. You’re going to run over something in the road and tear up two trailer tires at $400 each.” — Smart Trucking

Those aren’t hypotheticals. They are certainties on a long enough timeline. The only question is whether you have the cash to absorb them.

2. Not knowing your cost per mile

If you do not know your cost-per-mile, you cannot know whether a load is profitable. If you cannot evaluate profitability, you are gambling on every booking.

Your CPM includes everything: fuel, insurance, truck payment, maintenance reserves ($0.15-$0.20/mile), tires ($0.04/mile), permits, tolls, taxes, factoring fees, ELD subscription, phone, food, and your own pay.

For most solo owner-operators in 2026, total CPM runs $1.50-$2.30 depending on equipment costs and operating region. ATRI data shows the average contract rate for owner-operators at $2.09/mile — which is below the average operating cost of $2.26/mile in the current freight environment.

Read that again. The average rate is below the average cost. The carriers who survive are running below-average costs or finding above-average rates. The ones running average costs at average rates are slowly dying.

Calculate your CPM from real data within your first 30 days. Update it monthly. Every load decision starts with this number.

3. Taking every load regardless of profitability

New carriers desperate for revenue accept loads below their cost-per-mile. The logic: “Something is better than nothing. At least the truck is moving.”

The math: a load that pays $1.50/mile when your CPM is $1.80 costs you $0.30 for every mile you drive. A 500-mile unprofitable load costs you $150 plus wear on your equipment. You would literally lose less money sitting still.

Running below cost is not a revenue problem. It is a math problem that compounds. Each unprofitable load depletes the cash reserves that are keeping you alive.

Learn to say no. A truck sitting for two days while you find a profitable load is better than a truck running three days at a loss.

4. Skipping maintenance

A $500 brake adjustment skipped today becomes a $10,000 roadside breakdown plus a $5,000 out-of-service violation plus three days of lost revenue plus a tow bill. Deferred maintenance is not savings. It is a loan at brutal interest rates.

The maintenance items that destroy new carriers when ignored:

• Brakes — most common roadside violation, most common out-of-service order
• Tires — bald tires get you parked and fined. Budget $0.04/mile for tire replacement.
• Oil changes and fluid checks — cheap and preventive. Skip them and engine failure costs $15,000-$30,000.
• Lights — inoperative marker lights, brake lights, or turn signals are easy citations. Check them daily during pre-trip.
• Air lines and hoses — chafed or leaking air lines are a common OOS violation. Takes 30 seconds to inspect.

Build a maintenance reserve into your CPM: $0.15-$0.20 per mile. On 100,000 miles per year, that is $15,000-$20,000 set aside for maintenance. This is not optional budgeting. It is the cost of operating equipment.

5. Insurance lapse

If your insurance lapses by even one day, FMCSA automatically suspends your operating authority. Not after a review. Not after a warning. Automatically.

During suspension:

• You cannot legally operate
• Any loads in transit become violations
• Reinstatement requires a new insurance filing and processing time (days to weeks)
• Some brokers permanently blacklist carriers who have had authority suspensions

An insurance lapse usually happens because a carrier misses a premium payment during a cash-flow crunch. The irony: the cash crunch that caused the missed payment becomes catastrophic because now you can’t haul freight to generate revenue.

Never miss an insurance payment. If cash is tight, insurance is the last bill you skip — after food, after fuel, after everything else. Your truck payment can go 30 days late with consequences. Your insurance payment going 1 day late can end your business.

Set up automatic payments. Know your premium due dates. If you see a cash crunch coming, call your insurer or agent before you miss — not after.

6. Compliance gaps

94% of FMCSA audits in 2024 found at least one violation. 55% found acute or critical violations. The audit happens around months 9-12 of your new entrant period.

The most common failures for new carriers:

• No drug testing program (automatic failure)
• Not registered in the FMCSA Clearinghouse as both employer and driver
• No driver qualification file — yes, even on yourself
• No vehicle maintenance tracking system — a spreadsheet counts; nothing doesn’t
• No accident register — even if empty, it must exist
• Missing or falsified ELD records

Every one of these is a paperwork item, not an operational challenge. They fail not because they are hard, but because carriers don’t know about them or assume a solo operation is exempt. There is no fleet-size exemption.

Our compliance system covers every item. Set it up in your first week of operations and the audit becomes a formality.

7. Burnout and isolation

This is the one nobody puts in a guide. Running a one-truck operation means you are the driver, the dispatcher, the mechanic, the accountant, the compliance officer, and the owner. You work 60-70 hour weeks. You are alone for most of them.

The trucker forums are full of posts from year-one operators who are exhausted, anxious about money, missing their families, and questioning whether they made the right decision. This is normal. Not easy, but normal.

What helps: knowing the feeling is universal (it is), having a financial cushion so money stress doesn’t compound the isolation, maintaining relationships outside of trucking, and remembering that year one is universally described as the hardest.

What doesn’t help: pretending it’s not happening, working through exhaustion, skipping home time to chase loads, or making financial decisions when stressed and tired.

Your monthly survival checklist

Run through this once a month. It takes 30 minutes and catches problems before they become emergencies.

Financial

• Review cost-per-mile from actual data (not estimates)
• Check cash reserves — do you have at least 2 months of operating expenses?
• Review all upcoming payment due dates — insurance, truck, IRP, quarterly taxes
• Compare revenue per mile to CPM — are you profitable?
• Save for IFTA quarterly filing, annual renewals, and estimated taxes

Maintenance

• Review maintenance schedule — anything due this month?
• Check tire tread depth and condition
• Inspect brakes, air lines, lights, fluids
• Update maintenance records (auditors will check these)

Compliance

• ELD records current and accurate?
• IFTA mileage and fuel records reconciled?
• Any upcoming renewals? (IRP, UCR, consortium, DOT physical, annual inspection)
• Clearinghouse annual query completed? (due annually per driver)

Insurance

• Premium payments current — no risk of lapse?
• BMC-91 showing active on FMCSA SAFER?
• Any coverage changes needed? (new equipment, new states, cargo types)

What experienced carriers wish they’d known

From TruckersReport forums, Smart Trucking, and Motor Carrier HQ:

“Don’t buy a new truck your first year.” A $2,500/month payment on a new Peterbilt versus $1,600/month on a reliable used Freightliner is $10,800/year difference — money that goes directly to your survival reserves. The shiny truck does not make you more money. It makes the bank more money.

“The first year is the worst year.” Every experienced operator says this. The learning curve is steep, the margins are thin, and everything takes longer than expected. It does not stay this hard.

“Learn to say no to bad loads.” A truck sitting idle costs you fixed expenses. A truck running unprofitable loads costs you fixed expenses plus fuel plus wear. Sitting is cheaper than running at a loss.

“Keep 6 months’ expenses in cash.” Not a line of credit. Not receivables. Cash. The carriers who make it through freight slowdowns, rate dips, and unexpected repairs are the ones who can absorb the hit without missing an insurance payment.

“Don’t take immediate profits — reinvest.” First-year survivors consistently say they lived lean and put money back into reserves, maintenance, and equipment. The carriers who bought the nice truck, upgraded the sleeper, and took vacations in year one are disproportionately the ones who didn’t make year two.

“Most people get into this solely on driving experience. Most know little about business.” The gap between driving skills and business skills kills more careers than bad equipment or bad luck. If you are not comfortable with spreadsheets, tax planning, and contract negotiation, learn — or hire someone who is.

The 18-month mark: graduation

At 18 months, several things change at once:

Your new entrant period ends. FMCSA stops monitoring you more closely. Your safety audit should be behind you. You are a permanent authority carrier.

More brokers open their doors. The authority age restrictions that blocked you from major brokers fall away. Load options expand significantly.

Insurance premiums may decrease. Many insurers reduce rates at the first renewal for carriers with clean records. The “new authority penalty” premium diminishes. Your second-year insurance quote may be 10-25% lower than your first.

You understand your business. You know your real CPM, your profitable lanes, which brokers pay and which don’t, how to manage cash flow, and what compliance items need attention. The decisions that felt overwhelming in month three are now routine.

You have beaten the odds. If roughly half of new carriers close within 18 months, making it to this point puts you in the surviving half. The business does not get easy, but the existential uncertainty fades.

The five-year survival rate is roughly 25%. The difference between 18-month survivors and five-year survivors is discipline: consistent maintenance, growing cash reserves, staying compliant, and not expanding faster than revenue supports.

You’ve read the entire guide — here’s what to do next

If you have followed this series from the beginning, you have walked through the complete journey:

• The decision to start a trucking company, with honest financials
• Business formation — entity, EIN, banking
• Federal registration — USDOT, MC authority, BOC-3, the 21-day wait
• Insurance — the biggest financial shock and the most important relationship
• Compliance — four checklists, a calendar, and 20 minutes a day
• Safety and launch — finding loads, getting paid, and surviving the audit
• Year one — what kills carriers and how to avoid it

You know more now than most new carriers know after six months of operating. That knowledge is your edge.

The hardest part of starting a trucking company is not the paperwork. It is not the compliance. It is not even the money.

It is the insurance.

Insurance is the largest recurring expense in your first year. It determines whether brokers will book you. It is the one thing that, if it lapses for even a day, ends your authority instantly. And it is the one thing that most new carriers don’t have an expert helping them with.

We insure thousands of trucking companies. We specialize in new authorities. We know which carriers will write you, what it actually costs, and how to get you covered correctly from day one.

If you are ready to talk, call us at 208-800-0640. If you are not ready yet, bookmark this guide — it will still be here when you are.