The questions drivers actually ask
Pay, costs, equipment and how we run — answered with real numbers rather than “call for details”. If yours isn’t here, the phone is at the bottom.
Pay and money
What you keep, and what it costs
How much do I get paid?
You keep 85% of what the load pays — the whole rate, fuel surcharge included — pulling your own trailer, or 80% on a company trailer. You book your own freight and negotiate your own rates, so what a load pays is what you agreed to. Not “up to” 85% — 85%.
What does a company trailer cost me?
Nothing separate. The difference shows up in the split: 85% with your own trailer, 80% on ours. You also stay at 85% if you dedicate your truck to an approved power-only account.
What are the weekly fixed costs?
All of them, itemised. Nothing here is a surprise later.
These are the same figures the income calculator runs on, so the number it gives you is the number you’d actually see.
Do you provide a fuel card?
Yes. We run the NASTC fuel program, which gets our contractors a deep discount at the pump.
Do you file IFTA?
Yes — quarterly, and it’s charged back to you each quarter.
What insurance do I have to carry?
Bobtail and physical damage are yours to provide. If you’d rather not go and source it, we can place it through our insurers at cost to you.
The truck and the trailer
What you can bring
Is there an age limit on trucks?
No age limit. The truck has to be ELD compliant, and it gets a DOT inspection quarterly — the same as every other piece of equipment leased onto the fleet.
What trailers can I pull?
Dry van, a late-model reefer, or a flatbed if you have verifiable flatbed experience. The trailers we supply are dry van only — which means if you’re pulling reefer or flatbed, you’re on the 85% split by definition.
Do I need my own trailer?
No. Run one of ours at 80%, or bring your own and keep 85%. Plenty of contractors start on a company trailer and buy their own once they’ve seen the difference in a settlement.
Do you have lease purchase trucks?
From time to time. Call the office for what’s on the lot, or see the trucks available now. We also work with several partner companies you can lease from.
How we run
Who decides what you haul
Do you force dispatch?
No. Never. You choose the load, the lane and the rate. Self-dispatch is the reason this company exists — if we took that off you there’d be no point running here.
Who books my loads?
You do. You work the boards and the brokers you want to work with, and you say yes or no.
Then what does Advanced Trucking actually do?
You’re assigned a driver support specialist. They handle your broker packets, sign rate confirmations, tell you whether a broker is approved before you commit to the load, collect your trip reports and run your IFTA calculations.
On top of that: settlements, insurance, plates, permits, the NASTC fuel program, and our own shop and mechanic on site — so a service or an annual inspection is something you schedule rather than hunt for on the road.
What areas do you run?
All 48 states. Dry van is our core freight; bring your own reefer or flatbed and we’ll run that too.
Is self-dispatch right for everyone?
No, and we’d rather say so. Some drivers want the phone to ring with the next load already on it. That’s a legitimate way to run — it just isn’t this one.
Getting started
Whether you qualify, and what happens next
What do I need to qualify?
A Class A CDL in good standing, 25 or older, 2+ years verifiable OTR in the past 5 years, a current DOT physical and medical card, and a clean three-year record. Full list on the requirements page.
Do you hire company drivers?
Yes. Midwest regional, plus Midwest to the South, East and Southeast, in a late-model Freightliner with an automatic. Guaranteed weekly minimum, and home weekly or 2–3 weeks out with 3 days home. The details are here.
How long does the application take?
About ten minutes. No recruiter call needed to get started, and no obligation either way.
Can I see the numbers before I talk to anyone?
That’s what the income calculator is for. Put in your own miles, rate, fuel and deadhead and it runs them through our real pay percentages and the fee schedule above.
Question that isn’t here?
Ask it before you apply, not after. Somebody who can actually answer it picks up — there’s no phone tree and no ticket queue.
Call (317) 978-0276
Ready when you are
Your truck. Your loads. Your rates.
If the answers above look like the way you want to run, the application takes about ten minutes.
Questions? Call (317) 978-0276 · See the openings · About Advanced Trucking
