The transport business is becoming increasingly popular, both among consumers and in the business environment. The demand for these services is constantly growing, and due to the development of online commerce, transport companies have many new regular customers. Becoming the owner of a transport company is not the easiest task, since this type of activity has a high threshold for entry and experience in freight forwarding and logistics companies. How to open transport company from scratch for a beginner?

Logistics, as a business, has undoubted advantages over most other types of activity. The transport company does not require licenses and is considered strong in financially and has less risk of going bankrupt. In this regard, quite fierce competition has developed in this environment, and a newcomer to this market will need a competent approach and the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively.

Business registration


Before you open a transport company for the transportation of goods, you need to settle legal formalities. This type of entrepreneurship requires registration of a legal entity, or PBOYUL ( entrepreneurial activity without forming a legal entity).

Opening a closed joint stock company or open joint stock company is a promising option that will allow you to seriously expand. But these forms require the preparation of many certificates and permits. PBOYUL will have to pay additional taxes. Therefore, a more profitable and convenient option is an LLC.

To resolve all formalities for registering a transport business in the form of an LLC, it is recommended to contact specialists who will eliminate long queues, errors and misunderstandings. It is important to remember that an LLC requires a Charter, start-up capital and a bank account.

Selecting a room

When forming a new LLC, a lease agreement must be concluded with the owner of the premises - the office address must become the legal address of the enterprise. In addition to the office, storage space will be required.

The premises do not need luxurious renovation, but they should still look decent. An important requirement is compliance with fire and sanitary inspection standards. The office is the face of the company, so it needs a presentable appearance and a stylish interior.

Warehouses are clean and dry, equipped with showers and eating areas. Statistics show that the success of opening a freight transport company is 70% dependent on warehouse workers. Therefore, their working conditions must be provided with proper comfort.

Equipment


The transport business needs new, high-quality equipment. Not only the success of the company, but also the safety of employees depends on this. Low-quality or used equipment often runs the risk of falling into disrepair and increasing the entrepreneur’s expenses.

Necessary equipment and special equipment for a transport company warehouse:

  • rokla - one for each warehouse worker;
  • forklift – one per warehouse;
  • consumables - tape, stretch tape, etc.

Cars for cargo transportation are expensive transport. It is more profitable to start a business by negotiating with car owners. It is convenient if the owner of the vehicle agrees to work as a driver on it. For an entrepreneur, this means less responsibility, since the driver-owner of the car will be responsible for all possible damage or loss of cargo on the road.

Office equipment

In addition to the warehouse, it is necessary to take a responsible approach to office work. This room performs not only a representative function for clients. The office should house dispatchers who will monitor the work of drivers. For control rooms and for receiving clients, the premises will require:

  • computers and office equipment;
  • tables and chairs;
  • stationary and mobile phones. It is desirable to have 2 fixed lines;
  • walkie-talkie for communication with drivers.

Company personnel


Opening a freight transport company from scratch is not an easy task. It is good if the entrepreneur has experienced employees on his staff who can give advice and take on some management functions. You can also assign some workers various functions, so that at first we limit ourselves to a small staff. It is important not to overdo it with diversity, so as not to reduce the effectiveness of employees.

The company will require the following employees on a permanent basis:

  • Dispatcher – 2 people. Dispatchers take orders, issue vouchers for drivers, and keep in touch with them during trips.
  • Drivers - 2 people per car if long trips are planned. Drivers must have the required driving categories and have experience driving trucks.
  • Mechanic - one person on staff. His task is to service cars and special equipment.
  • Warehouse worker – 2 people.
  • Advertising manager - to find clients and promote the company.
  • An accountant – in this case, is required regularly; consulting services will cost more. An accountant's responsibilities include calculating employee payroll.

How to get clients?

A business such as a freight transport company is itself popular and in demand among clients. But at the initial stage, the business will need promotion. The Internet is now recognized as the main way to disseminate information about the provision of services. How to offer your services online:

  • create your own website;
  • place advertisements on free bulletin boards;
  • monitor online demand for freight transportation services;
  • send letters with commercial offers to the addresses of potential clients.

Costs and payback


As a business, a transport company requires serious start-up capital. Before you start opening a business, you should carefully calculate all possible expenses. These include:

  • rental and renovation of premises;
  • Payment of utility services;
  • staff salaries;
  • purchase necessary equipment;
  • purchase of spare parts for special equipment;
  • payment of taxes;
  • gasoline and other automotive fluids.

Without purchasing vehicles for transportation, the average cost of starting a business will be at least 1,200 thousand rubles. Purchasing vehicles will significantly increase these costs. In addition, experts say that a faster payback from the transport business of transporting goods can be expected when renting cars.

Income

The profitability of a business depends on the number of cars in the fleet and the availability of orders. With proper business promotion, properly organized work and minimized losses, the average profit from one machine per month will be 30 thousand rubles. If you have 2 cars, the business will pay off no earlier than in 1.5 - 2 years. The profitability of the business is recognized as high: it amounts to up to 40% of total revenue.

A transport company is the most profitable and reliable business. The demand for cargo transportation services is constantly growing, so it will bring high, stable profits. Before opening a transport company from scratch, a novice entrepreneur must carefully study this area and become familiar with all the nuances of this business.

Types of companies

Before you draw up a business plan for a transport company and begin to implement it, you first need to decide on the direction of activity.

There are several types of transport companies:

  • Organizations that deliver small cargo within one city;
  • Companies that deliver goods to warehouses, stores, etc. At the same time, they can transport cargo both across the territory of our country and to the near abroad;
  • Transportation of consolidated cargo. For these purposes, road trains are used, which carry out cargo transportation to different countries;
  • Companies that work with industrial enterprises. They transport different types of goods within the country. For this purpose, dump trucks, tractors and other equipment are used;
  • Intermediary companies. Since such organizations do not have their own transport, they are engaged in searching for a cargo carrier company, preparing all the necessary accompanying documents and the financial component.

Registration of activities

If you decide to open a freight transport company, first of all decide on the form of doing business. Most often, beginning entrepreneurs register as an individual entrepreneur or LLC.

If we talk about the form of taxation, the most best option- this is UTII. Its main advantage is that in this case you can connect up to 20 cars. For individual entrepreneur, the most favorable form of taxation is personal income tax. For intermediaries, it is better to choose a simplified tax. Before opening a transport company and making a final decision on the form of doing business, carefully consider all the features of its future activities.

Another important point is this bank account. This is especially true for those entrepreneurs who are opening a company for the long term. Many clients prefer to work by bank transfer, so without having a bank account, you may lose large customers.

Advantages and disadvantages of business

Some newcomers try to increase the profitability of a business at the formation stage through dumping, that is, they greatly reduce prices for services. Of course, their demand immediately increases, since it is much more profitable for clients to work with a new company than with its competitors. But in this case, financial costs increase significantly, and this can lead the company to bankruptcy.

To reduce the cost of cargo transportation, the following actions should be taken:

  1. Replace light-duty vehicles with heavy-duty vehicles;
  2. Set limits on the purchase of fuels and lubricants;
  3. Do not send half-empty cars on a flight;
  4. Buy your own forklift to avoid downtime.

Clear control over the expenditure of funds and competent organization of all business processes of the transport company will help you significantly reduce the cost of services. Thanks to this, the level of business profitability will significantly increase.

Russia is a large country that requires the supply of a large number of goods and services to its various points, separated by vast distances. Consequently, passenger and freight transportation services are in demand, which makes transport business very profitable. The formation of the structure of this business began with the country's transition to a market economy. This area currently employs about 20% of Russia's working population.

The road network in the country is continuously growing, which contributes to the development of transport business. In addition, cargo transportation has now become safer than, say, in the 90s, which cannot but attract entrepreneurs. This makes cargo delivery easier and cheaper. This area of ​​business is developing despite the unstable economy of the country, which is a positive factor for investment.

Business organization

Before you open a company providing freight transportation services from scratch, you need to decide on the type of future enterprise and the type of transport required for this. If you plan to provide services to individuals, such as furniture delivery, household appliances, moving assistance, etc., then you will need light-duty trucks (load capacity up to 7 tons).

If you want to open a large company to provide services to legal entities (shops, wholesale warehouses) in Russia or neighboring countries, you will need trucks with trailers, trucks, and refrigerators. To open a company that provides services to industrial enterprises, dump trucks, tractors and long vehicles are used. There is also the option of an intermediary company that searches for orders. Such a company does not require its own transport.

The next step when opening a transport company from scratch is choosing a legal form. If the company has one founder, then the individual entrepreneur form is ideal for it. For a company with several founders, it is better to choose a legal form such as LLC.

The form of taxation of your company will depend on the types of services provided and the amount of transport available. If your company has up to 20 cars and provides services to individuals, then the optimal type of taxation will be UTII. For transport companies providing services to industrial enterprises, you should choose the 3NDFL tax regime. For limited liability companies, a general tax regime is chosen. Intermediary transport companies can apply either a general or simplified tax regime.

Starting from scratch a business such as a transport company, you should remember what it means mandatory opening bank account, even if you plan to provide services to individuals. Legal entities work mainly on a cashless basis, so they will not enter into a contract with a company that does not have a bank account.

To others important point is the selection of personnel for your company. When opening a transport company from scratch, you will need to hire drivers, the number of which depends on the number of cars and work schedule.

With round-the-clock operation, one car will require up to 3 drivers. The number of dispatchers depends on the number of cars and type of services. For companies with more than 5 cars, a car mechanic will be required. It is advisable to hire an accountant in a company that has more than 10 cars under the general taxation regime.

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How to make your trucking business successful?

The success of your business directly depends on the number of clients, so finding them is one of the most important tasks businessman.

When starting a business from scratch, you should take care of good advertising for your company. They will help you to find clients quickly and efficiently the following types advertising: posting advertisements around the city, advertising your company on the Internet sites of your city and region, in newspapers and magazines, placing advertisements in furniture stores and household appliance stores. Dispatch companies can also help you find clients.

If your company works with legal entities, then you can send commercial offers of your services with prices to a certain circle of companies. Currently, large enterprises hold tenders, in which your company must offer optimal conditions to win. In addition, you should enter into contracts with large dispatch firms.

When opening a transport company, you should remember that clients first of all pay attention to the quality of services, so starting such a business from scratch is quite difficult, regardless of whether it is urban, intercity or international cargo transportation. The profitability of your business depends on the literacy of your company's employees. The simplest option for a transport business is to provide customers with vehicles for rent.

The quality of the purchased transport determines the future profit of your company. Trucks from Mercedes, Peugeot, Ford, and Hyundai are best suited for this business. Such cars, although they are more expensive, last longer than inexpensive domestic cars. A couple of hackneyed “Gazelles” and “Bulls” are unlikely to bring you much income.

Organizing a transport business, despite the obvious demand for freight and passenger transportation, is not easy. Firstly, you will be hampered by a lot of competition in this area. Secondly, an entrepreneur without serious investments and connections has nothing to do in the road transportation market. Thirdly, experts usually discourage people without experience in transportation from even thinking about how to open a transport company.

Most often, a transport business is opened by employees of motor transport enterprises (logistics, dispatchers, drivers) who want to go “free swimming”. Having extensive experience, connections in the transportation industry, their own clientele and their own vehicles, such entrepreneurs have every chance of a successful start and active development your company.

Does it make sense to get into the trucking business?

What should a novice entrepreneur who would like to start this particular business do? Is the path to the world of transportation closed to him?

If we're talking about about such areas as transportation of large and oversized cargo, servicing large production facilities, then this is a matter exclusively for large motor transport companies with an appropriate fleet of vehicles and special equipment.

Regular route passenger transportation is also impossible without an expensive bus fleet. Most often, and this is not the main thing: decisive role When tendering for the provision of transport services to the population, the “necessary” contacts and financial capabilities play a role.

The field of activity for small automobile enterprises is taxis and private orders for cargo transportation (moving, delivery of furniture and building materials, cooperation with small enterprises, organizations, shops). As a rule, owners of cars (trucks, dump trucks, minibuses) or drivers of automobile enterprises who dream of working for themselves or together with comrades who are ready to invest in a common business think about creating such a business.

Car park

The transport available determines the specialization of the newly opened transport company. You need to look for your first clients taking into account your fleet of vehicles. At the same time, you should think about expansion: attract drivers with their own vehicles, buy cars, lease, rent. Although, if you’re lucky, you can do the opposite: find a large customer and purchase vehicles that meet their requirements.

You can talk about a full-fledged transport company if its fleet includes at least 5 trucks (from 500 thousand rubles for one Gazelle) and at least one truck (from 3 million rubles). Purchasing cars on a leasing basis requires an initial investment of 30% of the cost of the cars and about 5% in monthly payments.

To work with food stores and bases, you need vehicles that provide special temperature conditions: isothermal vans, refrigerators.

To service industrial enterprises, construction and raw materials companies, you will need dump trucks, tractors, cargo trailers and platforms.

Passenger transportation is carried out by minibuses or buses, which are selected depending on the type of transportation: route, group, tourist, city or intercity trips.

Company registration

If you are not afraid of the volume of investment and you are confident that you can provide your company with orders, you can start registering your business.

Register as or open . If you plan to work only with individuals and small or medium-sized businesses, an individual entrepreneur with a simplified tax form is suitable. For transport enterprises with a fleet of no more than 20 vehicles, a tax form is allowed.

To serve large customers, it is better to register a limited liability company common system taxation. You will need to open a bank account: payments will be made by bank transfer.

A motor transport enterprise must have its own base. To do this, you can use a rented or purchased land plot outside the residential area. The site is fenced and provided with physical and technical security.

The base provides parking spaces for vehicles and bays for repairs.

Obtaining a license

Cargo transportation as a business requires obtaining a license if the work uses vehicles with a carrying capacity of over 3.5 tons. Activities for passenger transportation by taxi and vehicles with a capacity of 8 people are required to be licensed.

The license is issued by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. To receive it you must provide the following documents:

  • application with a list of cars;
  • copies of all constituent documents, certificates of registration of the organization and its tax registration, extract from the State Register of Legal Entities or the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs;
  • copies of qualification documents of enterprise employees;
  • a copy of the certification document of the person responsible for safety traffic;
  • information about vehicles on which licensed transportation will be carried out;
  • receipt for payment of the license fee.

If the car company meets all the requirements, the licensing authority issues permit document for a period of 5 years.

Staff

Organizing the work of a motor transport company requires a fairly large staff of employees:

  • Drivers with licenses of the appropriate category, one per car and substitute drivers. When transporting over long distances, to comply with the work and rest schedule, at least 2 drivers per vehicle.
  • Dispatcher – organizes transportation, controls, prepares travel documents, and maintains internal logs.
  • The head of the garage is an auto mechanic who inspects cars before releasing them onto the line, and also provides fuel and lubricants.
  • Car mechanic - repairs cars and carries out preventive maintenance.
  • Road safety engineer - responsible for appropriate driver training, instruction, and interaction with the traffic police.
  • Medical worker - carries out pre-trip examination of drivers.
  • An accountant is needed if the organization operates under the general tax regime or has a large fleet of vehicles. In other cases, it is not necessary to hire an accountant on staff.

Search for clients

Finding customers is the main task for the head of a motor transport enterprise. It is necessary to act “on all fronts” in order to maximize the utilization of the entire existing vehicle fleet and avoid long-term downtime of equipment.

An auto company can carry out the following activities to attract customers:

  • place advertisements for transportation intended for individuals(newspapers, stops, entrances);
  • advertise on the Internet, create a business card website for your company;
  • negotiate the provision of services with entrepreneurs (furniture and household appliance stores, construction companies, repair crews, travel agencies);
  • monitor tenders for transportation and take part in them;
  • establish relationships with larger carriers, dispatch and forwarding companies that may have work for your company;
  • collect a database of enterprises to formulate commercial proposals for cooperation.

It’s not easy to get a large client for a young transport company, but auto companies also make money from small-scale transportation. In this case, the profitability of the entire business depends on the number of orders.

Current expenses need to be reduced: do not exceed the norms for the consumption of fuel and lubricants, fight against “wrong” orders from drivers that cause damage to the company, carefully monitor the technical condition of the vehicle fleet, and carry out preventive maintenance more often to avoid repairs. Wage drivers should be set depending on completed orders.

When forming a vehicle fleet, try to purchase vehicles intended for different types transportation: the versatility of a transport company makes it possible to expand the search base for potential clients.