Buying a trucking company in Treasure Coast
Treasure Coast has 18 established trucking companies by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 67% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Trucking companies in Treasure Coast come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $290,000 a year
- Price about
- $883,000
- Your cash
- $124,000
- Could pay you
- up to $130,000 a year
- Earns about
- $666,000 a year
- Price about
- $2 million
- Your cash
- $284,000
- Could pay you
- up to $300,000 a year
- Earns about
- $1.2 million a year
- Price about
- $3.6 million
- Your cash
- $500,000
- Could pay you
- up to $528,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 3.0 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 6 |
| 20 to 29 years | 8 |
| 30 to 39 years | 2 |
| 40 years or more | 2 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 2 |
| $1M to $2M | 1 |
| $2M to $4M | 2 |
| $4M to $8M | 1 |
| Over $8M | 2 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Indian River | 5 |
| Other counties | 13 |
What the best trucking companies have in common
- Direct shipper customers with years of history, not only brokered loads that can vanish when rates fall.
- A clean safety record: few crashes, good roadside inspection results, and no conditional or unsatisfactory rating from FMCSA, the federal safety regulator.
- A maintained fleet with documented service records and a sensible replacement schedule.
- Drivers who stay, because pay, equipment and home time are good. Turnover is one of the biggest hidden costs in trucking.
- Insurance at a reasonable premium, backed by a clean claims history.
- A safety manager and dispatcher who run daily operations without the owner.
- Costs tracked per truck and per mile, so the owner knows which routes and customers make money.
- Freight both into and out of Florida, so trucks don't run long distances empty.
What to check before you buy
- FMCSA safety data: inspection results, crash history, out-of-service rates and any audit or investigation findings.
- Driver files, drug and alcohol testing records and hours-of-service logs.
- Insurance quotes for you as the new owner before you commit. Premiums can jump with a change of ownership or a new USDOT number.
- Each truck's age, mileage, maintenance records and what's owed on it.
- How much depends on the biggest customers, brokered versus direct revenue, and rates per mile on each route.
- Owner-operator agreements, and whether those drivers are properly treated as contractors.
- Open claims, cargo damage claims and lawsuits, including any from crashes.
- For household movers, complaints filed with FDACS, and whether estimates and contracts follow Florida's moving law (chapter 507).
- Data from tracking devices and dash cameras, if the fleet has them, which shows how the trucks are actually driven.
Questions to ask the owner
- What share of revenue comes from direct shippers, and how long have they worked with you?
- How long do your drivers usually stay, and how do you find new ones?
- How has your insurance cost changed over the last three years?
- Have you had any serious crashes, audits or FMCSA investigations?
- How do you find loads leaving Florida?
- Who handles safety compliance and dispatch today?
- When does each truck need replacing?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a trucking company in Florida.
Owning a company in Treasure Coast
The local economy
This region covers Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties on the Atlantic coast and Okeechobee and Highlands counties inland: Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Sebastian, Okeechobee, Sebring and Avon Park. Port St. Lucie is the largest city and has grown quickly as a suburb within reach of Palm Beach County to the south.
The coast draws retirees and winter residents, and health care, construction, real estate, boating and sport fishing are big parts of the economy. The coast lies in the Indian River citrus district, named for the lagoon. Inland, Okeechobee and Highlands are cattle, dairy and citrus country around Lake Okeechobee and along the ridge near Sebring, with many retirees of their own. Home service companies, the building trades, marine businesses and medical practices find steady customers here.
What's different about owning a company here
The coast is seasonal, with winter residents filling restaurants, golf courses and service schedules, and summer is quieter. Hurricane Nicole came ashore near Vero Beach in November 2022, and the region has a long history of storms, so check insurance, flood zones and how a business came through recent ones.
Water quality in the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon is a recurring problem, and in a bad year it can hurt fishing, boating and tourism businesses. Inland, distances are longer and the labor pool thinner. A company in Sebring or Okeechobee may be one of very few of its kind nearby, which can mean loyal customers and little competition, but also few people to hire. Most new homes on the coast are going up in and around Port St. Lucie.