How much does it cost to start a trucking company?
About $113,000 all in for a small one, opened by one founder in an American city: $90,600 to open the doors and $22,100 to keep going for the 3 months it typically takes to pay its way. Below, every item at low, typical and high with where it comes from — and your own quote, for your country, your town, how you start and the money you have.
To open: $90,600
Used Class 8 sleeper tractor: $57,500 ($45,000–$80,000). ACT Research used Class 8 average retail price 2025: $57,371 (Jan), $60,324 (Jun), $57,135 (Dec); J.D. Power typical sleeper May 2025 $65,452 (55 months, 438k miles)
Used 53ft dry-van trailer: $24,000 ($15,000–$30,000). FreightWaves Ratings: a used 53ft van in good shape $23,000-$27,000; Truck Paper listing averages $22,668-$25,523
Authority, IRP plates, IFTA, UCR, BOC-3 and HVUT: $2,500 ($1,500–$4,000). FMCSA operating-authority filing $300; BOC-3 agent $30-$100/yr; IRS Form 2290 heavy-vehicle use tax $550 a year for a full-weight truck; IRP apportioned plates and UCR vary by state and miles (estimate for the total)
Insurance down payment: liability, cargo, physical damage: $4,500 ($2,500–$8,000). New-authority insurance $9,500-$18,000 a year (owner-operator guides 2025); cargo adds $1,500-$3,000, physical damage $2,500-$6,000; down payment estimated at 20-25% of the annual premium
ELD, tablet and dashcam: $1,000 ($500–$2,000). Our estimate: FMCSA-registered ELD hardware and a tablet, plus a dashcam insurers ask for
Drug consortium, DOT physical, Clearinghouse: $300 ($150–$500). Our estimate: random-testing consortium enrolment, pre-employment test, DOT medical card
Forming the company: $800 ($150–$2,500). An LLC's state filing is $50–$500 (state fee schedules), plus an EIN (free) and a registered agent; the World Bank measured the procedures at about 1% of income per capita, about $850 (Doing Business 2020); a lawyer's formation package $500–$2,000.
To keep going until it pays its way: $22,100
Running costs while sales build: $11,400 ($2,630–$31,200). Diesel, Insurance instalments, Repairs and maintenance, Tyres, Load board, ELD service, tolls and permits, until it breaks even; sales are taken to grow evenly to cover them, so about half is needed. Break-even: Our estimate: brokers pay 30-45 days after delivery unless the invoice is factored (2-5% fee, cash in 1-2 days); owner-operator guides warn year one runs at 70-80% of an experienced operator's numbers
Your own living costs until it can pay you: $10,700 ($3,560–$21,400). A one-person household spends about $3,560 a month in America (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2021–22); nothing is paid to you until the business breaks even.
All in: $113,000
About $113,000 all in ($71,000–$180,000): $90,600 to open and $22,100 to keep going for the 3 months it typically takes to pay its way.
With $10,000 of your own you are $103,000 short: borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, about $2,230 a month.
The trade's published range, before the months it takes to pay its way: $95,000–$170,000. Owner-operator startup guides 2025: $95,000-$170,000 with used equipment under your own authority ($15k-$30k without the truck); OOIDA/FreightWaves $100k-$200k (current file)
How much does it cost to start a trucking company?
About $113,000 all in ($71,000–$180,000) for a small one, from home, in an American city. To open: Used Class 8 sleeper tractor $57,500; Used 53ft dry-van trailer $24,000; Authority, IRP plates, IFTA, UCR, BOC-3 and HVUT $2,500; Insurance down payment: liability, cargo, physical damage $4,500; ELD, tablet and dashcam $1,000; Drug consortium, DOT physical, Clearinghouse $300; Forming the company $800 — $90,600. To keep going for the 3 months it typically takes to break even: running costs while sales build $11,400; your own living costs until it can pay you $10,700 — $22,100. The trade's published startup range is $95,000–$170,000 (Owner-operator startup guides 2025: $95,000-$170,000 with used equipment under your own authority ($15k-$30k without the truck); OOIDA/FreightWaves $100k-$200k (current file)), which leaves the months before it pays its way out.
What does SparkTower's simulator pay to open it?
The simulator pays the one-off opening costs before the first customer — the running costs and the founder's living it plays month by month: Used tractor (five to seven years old) $70,000; Used dry-van trailer $28,000; Operating authority, USDOT and MC numbers, IRP plates and IFTA $2,500; First year's insurance down payment: liability, cargo, physical damage $6,000; ELD, tablet and load-board subscription $1,500; Forming the company $500. A one-truck company under its own authority: $100k–$200k (OOIDA and FreightWaves owner-operator startup guides). A used Class 8 tractor $50k–$100k and a dry van $20k–$40k (2024–25 used-truck market reports); USDOT and MC registration $300 (FMCSA), plus IRP plates and IFTA by state; new-authority insurance $10k–$20k a year (Progressive and Insureon commercial-trucking data).
How much of that do you keep?
$98,000 of it — the kit, fit-out or stock it bought — is still yours afterwards, something a buyer would pay for and a lender would lend against; the other $10,500 is spent.
What if my own money doesn't cover it?
With $10,000 of your own you would be about $103,000 short. Borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, that is about $2,230 a month. Most founders borrow the rest. A small-business term loan runs about 11% a year over 5 years (SBA 7(a) loans are the prime rate plus 3 to 6.5 points), repaid every month from the start — before the business has found its customers. In SparkTower's trucking company simulator the founder starts with $40,000 of their own money. The launch costs take all of it and $95,625 is borrowed — at 11% over 5 years, about $2,079 a month from the first period.
Can you start a trucking company with no money?
Not in full: lenders want the owner to put in about 20% (the SBA's own floor for a start-up is 10%), and lend against the kit, fit-out and stock a launch buys, not its marketing or a software build. What a founder with nothing does is open smaller — an owner-operator leased onto a carrier's authority, in a used truck on a lease-purchase — on about $43,100 of essentials (cDL training (community-college or private school) $4,500; used tractor on a lease-purchase $35,000; occupational-accident, bobtail and physical-damage insurance, first quarter $2,500; dOT medical card, drug test, ELD and phone $800; forming the company $300), borrowed as a microloan (the SBA's are up to $50,000, at 8–13%) or, for a few thousand dollars, on a card at about 22%. The rest is bought once the business can afford it. An owner-operator leased onto a carrier hauls under the carrier's authority and liability insurance and its trailers, so needs a CDL ($3,000–$10,000 at a school under FMCSA's entry-level driver training rule; carrier-sponsored schools cost nothing up front), a truck — a 7–10-year-old tractor $25k–$50k, often on a lease-purchase — and occupational-accident and bobtail cover at $150–$300 a month (OOIDA business guides). The carrier dispatches, so it runs about four-fifths of the loads its own authority would.
Will it earn the money back?
That depends on what you charge, how many customers you win and what your rivals do. The free trucking company simulator pays these costs before it opens, borrows what the founder's cash doesn't cover, and plays the business forward against real rivals, so you can see whether it earns them back before you spend them.
What it costs to start others like it
- Cost to start a small-town business — $126,000 all in
- Cost to start a café — $155,000 all in
- Cost to start a restaurant — $223,000 all in
- Cost to start a salon or barber — $128,000 all in
- Cost to start a gym or studio — $208,000 all in
- Cost to start a food truck — $116,000 all in
- Cost to start a bakery — $145,000 all in
- Cost to start a retail shop — $160,000 all in
- Cost to start a cleaning service — $27,100 all in
- Cost to start a landscaping business — $53,900 all in
- Cost to start an auto repair garage — $156,000 all in
- Cost to start a daycare or nursery — $117,000 all in
- Cost to start a plumbing or electrical trade — $55,400 all in
- Cost to start a construction company — $80,700 all in
- Cost to start a solar installer — $99,000 all in
- Cost to start a property developer — $937,000 all in