Trucking Company
Long-haul trucking moves the economy and grosses serious revenue per truck, but the margin underneath is thin: fuel, driver pay, and factoring eat most of the rate. You are not buying a route; you are building a fleet, an operating authority, and a book of lanes that keeps every rig loaded.
Read the launch plan: every step from deciding to opening, free →The Snapshot
Is this worth your attention?
Cited sources Typical bands for this kind of business, compiled from the public sources listed under Sources and method; they are a synthesis, not figures copied from any one source. Estimates, not forecasts; a specific business varies with its location, lease, equipment and owner. Last reviewed 2026-10-27. smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice.
A fit if you…
- Can recruit and retain reliable, compliant drivers
- Can manage cash flow through slow-pay receivables
- Will build direct-shipper and dedicated lanes, not just spot loads
- Can run tight dispatch to cut deadhead and detention
- Hold or will earn operating authority and keep clean safety scores
Probably not if you…
- Want a high-margin business from day one
- Cannot carry fuel and payroll while invoices age
- Dislike compliance, paperwork, and managing drivers
- Expect to live on load boards and still build wealth
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Sources and method9 public sources, with the year and a link where the source gives one. The benchmark bands are smbnest's synthesis of these sources, not figures copied from them.
Sources & Method
Figures are compiled from the public sources below; the bands are a synthesis of them, not copies
How these numbers were built: revenue per truck follows Werner’s 2025 results ($4,633 a truck a week before fuel surcharge) and the American Transportation Research Institute’s 85,991 miles a truck a year, about $250,000 a truck at $2.90 a mile with fuel surcharge; driver pay, fuel, repairs, tires, tolls and permits per mile come from ATRI’s 2026 operational cost report (2025 data); first-year insurance and the authority, UCR, IFTA, IRP and Form 2290 costs come from OTrucking’s 2026 guide; the owner cash flow band, its tiers and the resale multiples come from BizBuySell’s trucking companies sold from 2021 to 2025; industry size and freight share come from the American Trucking Associations; establishment counts come from the U.S. Census Bureau (County Business Patterns for NAICS 484121, General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload); financing terms come from the SBA; and business survival context comes from the Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics. The trucks are bought used and paid for by the plan’s loan, so no truck payment sits in the monthly costs. The volume driver is the truck count, so each rig brings its driver, insurance, fuel and maintenance with it as the fleet ramps up, while the office is paid in full from the start. Every source below links to the underlying public material so you can check any figure yourself. These are starting assumptions; the moment you enter a real carrier’s revenue per truck, fuel and maintenance share, driver pay, and lane mix, your numbers should replace ours. Figures are current as of 2025-2026 and refreshed as the sources update.
Driver pay, fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, and permits per mile come from ATRI’s 2026 operational cost report (2025 data); revenue per truck from Werner’s 2025 results and ATRI’s miles per truck; and the owner cash flow band and tiers from BizBuySell’s trucking companies sold from 2021 to 2025. A new fleet on the spot market often runs below these figures, so treat them as a well-run fleet’s numbers and replace them with your own lane rates and quotes.
This is just the surface
The full model is the complete, interactive deep-dive, and every business here is built to the same standard: a live economics simulator you tune to your own numbers, an interactive 3D walkthrough, a location scorecard, an owner-fit assessment, a buy-versus-build comparison, and the full breakdown of how it makes money and what quietly kills margin.
then $29 a month
Time to choose and start, then month to month.
$99 today for your first 3 months, then $29 a month until you cancel.
about $17 a month
The best price: a year to decide, open and run it.
$199 today, then $199 each year until you cancel.
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smbnest is a self-assessment tool. It does not give individualized financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are estimates and benchmarks, not forecasts. Speak with a qualified financial adviser and a licensed attorney before you start, buy, finance or sign anything.