Trying to start a box truck transportation company

Hey OP, I work in transportation on the factoring side, so I am very familiar with this. Do you have experience in transportation already?

Short answer to your question, yes, you can use rentals. It's kind of a grey area and I would be careful with your insurance on this. You may want to work with a compliance company to make sure you don't miss anything and ensure plan is compliant.

Do you know how you're going to find loads? Are you in a good market for box truck work? Will you hire a dispatcher and have you decided on funding option(Qp, factor, standard pay)? Don't forget to work those cost into your plan.

If I'm being 100٪ honest, I would not recommend starting a box truck company and definitely wouldn't use rentals. I think it would be more expensive to use a rental compared to financing a truck. Gas prices are high and rates are down, so it could be tough to make a profit using rentals, especially with how hard it already is to succeed in this industry with BTs. Box Trucks have a very low barrier to entry too, so there's a lot of competition, and if you don't have experience, you're going to have trouble finding loads and staying in business. I see Box Truck companies come and go all the time because people think they can easily jump into this market, and next thing you know they're out of business for a variety of reasons. There's a serious learning curve here and I'm not joking when I say I see new box truck entrants struggle constantly.

Let me know if you have any questions, I have a decade of experience here, have worked with 1000s of carriers of all equipment types. Part of my role has always been client retention, which has focused on why my clients stop factoring or went out of business. Most common answer for box truck clients is inability to find loads‐ meaning finding actual freight to move and also finding loads that pay enough. Box Truck is also the most common equipment type I see go out of business in the first 90 days of authority.

This is not to say people don't succeed all the time, but I want you to be aware of the challenge in front of you if you move forward with this plan.

/r/Business_Ideas Thread