How to Choose a Home Base for Your Truck: An Owner-Operator Checklist

Short answer: The best home base for an owner-operator is a secure, fenced lot with 24/7 access, close to both your home and your main routes, with room for your full rig and a spot for your personal vehicle. It should also offer monthly terms with predictable billing. Here’s a checklist to help you choose.

Why Your Home Base Matters

Your truck is your business. Where it sits between loads affects your security, your insurance, your time and your fuel costs. A good home base makes every run start and end smoothly. A bad one costs you in theft risk, wasted miles and stress.

The Owner-Operator Home Base Checklist

1. Security: full fencing, a gate, nighttime lighting, cameras and individual gate codes so the operator knows who’s on the property.
2. 24/7 access: loads don’t keep office hours. Make sure you can get in and out at 3am.
3. Location: close to the interstate you run most (I-95, I-40 or I-295 around Fayetteville) and within a reasonable drive of home.
4. Space size: about 75 feet for a tractor and 53-foot trailer, with room to back in.
5. Personal vehicle parking: can you leave your car in your spot while you’re out? If not, factor in the cost of rides.
6. Trailer and bobtail flexibility: can you drop just the trailer, or park the tractor alone?
7. Clear, predictable billing: know when you’ll be charged and whether there’s a deposit.
8. Insurance requirements: expect to provide proof of insurance. Also ask about restrictions; many lots, including ours, don’t accept hazmat loads.
9. A real person to call: when something comes up, you want a local office that picks up the phone.

Questions to Ask Before You Sign

• Is my space numbered and dedicated to me, or first come, first served?
• When is my billing date, and is payment automatic?
• Is there a security deposit?
• What happens if I need to leave for a few months?
• Are there restrooms or facilities on site? (Many secure lots, including ours, are parking only.)

How Mile Marker Parking Stacks Up

We built our lots around what owner-operators told us they need:

• Fully fenced and gated, with nighttime lighting, security cameras and a unique gate code for every driver
• 24/7/365 access
• 75-foot spaces for a tractor and 53-foot trailer; trailer-only and bobtail parking allowed
• Leave your personal vehicle in your designated spot
• Monthly rentals with anniversary billing (your billing date is the day you start) and no security deposit; just your first month in advance
• Local office staff available Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm

Choose from three North Carolina locations: Fayetteville (near I-95), Hope Mills (less than a mile from I-95 Exit 41, coming soon) and Wilmington (near the Port of Wilmington, I-40 and US-17).

Set Up Your Home Base

Reserve online and select your location, or call 855-709-7275. See our truck parking cost guide and truck parking FAQ for more details.