Free Trucking Business Plan Template for Owner-Operators (Word + Excel)

1. Download the files: the Word template (also as a PDF) and the Excel model.
2. On the Excel Assumptions tab, replace the yellow cells. Section 2 takes your truck GVWR, trailer GVWR, gross combination weight rating (GCWR) and Form 2290 taxable gross weight. Take the GCWR from the manufacturer's label or spec sheet; don't add the two GVWRs together.
3. Read Break-Even (cash basis first) and the lowest month-end cash on Key Ratios. The monthly detail is on Cash Flow.
4. Check the Compliance tab's "Applies?" column; use the auto/Y/N override where needed.
5. Copy the numbers into the Word file. Its section 9 lists which tab each item comes from.

See also formatting mistakes to avoid in a Word business plan.

For the narrative sections, see how to write each section of a business plan.

Variable lines are per mile: fuel (diesel price ÷ miles per gallon), repairs, tires, tolls, state weight-distance tax and other. Fixed lines are per month: insurance, ELD, office, parking, other, and annual compliance fees. The Cost per Mile tab shows Years 1 to 3.

There is no "truck payment" line. On the profit basis, the truck and trailer enter as depreciation and loan interest. On the cash basis, the model drops depreciation, which isn't a payment, and adds loan principal and your owner draw.

Total miles = driving days per month × miles per driving day, scaled down by your ramp-up % in months 1 to 3. Loaded miles = total × (1 − deadhead %). Linehaul = loaded miles × rate, with a rate change for Years 2 and 3. An optional fuel surcharge (default $0) goes in only if it's paid on top of the rate. Customers can pay in the same month or the next, and factoring, with a fee you set, counts loads as paid in the month hauled.

A driver may drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, within a 14-hour window, and no driving after 60 hours on duty in 7 days (or 70 in 8 days if the carrier operates every day) (49 CFR 395.3). The model checks the daily 11-hour limit and nothing else: miles per day ÷ the average speed you enter.

On a profit basis the example's Year 1 break-even is $1.92 per loaded mile (margin of safety 23.4%). That covers depreciation and interest, but it excludes your own pay of $4,500 a month and the loan principal (example inputs, see above). You pay both out of the rate, so the profit basis makes the business look safer than your bank account will feel. The cash basis adds both and leaves out depreciation, which isn't a cash payment.

1. Break-even rate per loaded mile = Year 1 total cost on that basis ÷ (loaded miles × share of revenue you keep). Deadhead is built in: costs fall on all miles.
2. Margin of safety = (planned rate − break-even rate) ÷ planned rate.
3. Break-even loaded miles per month at the planned rate (Break-Even tab): 8,087 on the cash basis and 4,229 on the profit basis, against 8,740 planned on average in Year 1 (example inputs, see above).

For the monthly format behind the Cash Flow tab, see our monthly cash flow statement template.

On the Startup & Funding tab, uses are $165,800 against sources of $166,500, a $700 surplus, with $30,700 cash on day one. Months 2 to 5 are flagged LOW (below 25% of the reserve); no month is SHORT (example inputs, see above).

In the model, five more points of deadhead wipe out the cash margin. Fifty cents more per gallon cancels it. A 10% rate cut puts the plan short of cash (example inputs, see above).

One change from our first draft of the example: we raised the working-capital reserve from $15,000 to $30,000 (owner cash from $41,000 to $56,000). With $15,000, and customers paying a month after the haul, the example ran below $0 for its first 9 months. We changed nothing else.

Check your state for intrastate rules, and the current rule at each link.

Example test weights, not typical pickup or trailer ratings. Example inputs for a hypothetical one-truck dry-van operation. Not a real carrier, not industry averages: replace them with your numbers. With a 14,000 lb truck, an 11,000 lb trailer, a 25,000 lb GCWR and 24,000 lb taxable gross weight, the model marked Form 2290, drug and alcohol testing and the CDL as not applying. USDOT, the medical certificate and the ELD still applied, and the insurance minimum stayed $750,000 because the truck is 10,001 lb GVWR or more. A 15,000 lb trailer (GCWR 29,000 lb) turned the CDL and testing on.

The IRP and IFTA lines stay on "Y" when you change the weights, so set them yourself. The cost inputs are tractor-trailer example values: replace them too.

Fees and rules as published in the eCFR (title 49, current to October 9, 2026), 91 FR 56063 (UCR fees), 91 FR 23144 (Motus), IRS Form 2290 and its instructions (Rev. July 2026), and 49 U.S.C. 31701 and 31705. Check the current figure at each link.

The input is 1 (own authority) or 2 (leased on), and the carrier's share is yours to enter. Leased on, the model switched off operating authority, BOC-3, UCR and the insurance filing. USDOT, IRP, IFTA, Form 2290, CDL, drug and alcohol, the medical certificate and the ELD stayed on. Every one of them except the CDL line has an override you can change. These are the model's planning defaults, not a ruling on which rules apply to a leased-on driver.

Confirm with the carrier which registrations, costs and filings are yours.

The file shows sources and uses (Startup & Funding), monthly loan payments and debt service (Loan), the lowest month-end cash and DSCR before and after owner draw (Key Ratios), with the monthly detail on Cash Flow. That DSCR is by our definition: (EBITDA − business income tax) ÷ annual debt service. Your lender may define it differently. Ask your lender what it requires.

SBA's business-plan guidance describes a five-year financial outlook for a traditional plan, with quarterly or even monthly projections for the first year (SBA). This model covers 36 months, so ask your lender what it wants for years 4 and 5 (see 3-year vs 5-year projections).

• 36 months, not five years (see the projections question above).
• No balance sheet. For a five-year workbook with one, use our general Excel business plan template.
• DSCR is our definition.
• Hours of service: the daily 11-hour driving limit (49 CFR 395.3) is checked, nothing else.
• IRP, IFTA, state taxes and intrastate rules are your inputs. The IRP and IFTA example lines stay on after you switch to hot shot weights.
• Annual fees are paid at opening and every 12 months (or spread); no Form 2290 proration.
• Fixed-rate loans, no balloon; straight-line depreciation (tax depreciation differs: IRS Publication 946).
• Flat income tax; personal income and self-employment tax are not calculated.
• No per-lane detail or fleet growth. Input limits apply to typed values; a pasted value can bypass them.
• Opened in LibreOffice and nowhere else so far.