D2xMan

Hello,
This is my first post and it's about the transport & hauling business. I have a 2006 bighorn quad cab 5.9L and want to put it to work. Just wanted to talk to some of you guys that are doing this and what I can expect. I'm looking at a Big Tex gooseneck 14,000# to get started hauling some cars and anything else here in AZ only, no long haul stuff. Thanks for the input gentlemen.

haulin-rv

Insurance is BIG $$$, then you need you authority, and so on. Thats also not the right trailer. If you are going to do cars then you need a 53ftwedge if its freight then a 45ft lowboy or low pro deckover.

Is your truck a dually?

PJDiesel

You'll want at LEAST a triple 7K (preferably a tandem dual set up)

At 14K, once you take out the weight of the trailer, you won't be hauling much.

03whitedually

I recently started hauling and and its not cheap to do it legal insuranceis very expensive mine is close to $6k a year and what Im finding is that unless you go out stay out and find something coming back its hard to make a living doing this, my saving grace has been that ive gottn a full time job working 4 days a week and hauling on my days off. good luck to you, as for trailer i would get a 38-40 ft car hauler ( not a wedge, to confining ) make sure you can mount a winch on it and that you can put boards in the middle to haul flat loads

rich

good luck

Colo_River_Ram

How many miles have you racked up rich are you in the million mile club yet? There's another chapter for the forum...

Bonshawman

www.hotshothauling is a good reference. The more limits you put on what you'll haul (by type(s) of trailers and tow vehicle), or the radius, etc., the less money you will make.

D2xMan

Thanks for the input guys. It seems getting involved with autos maybe a pain?
I feel there is a need for a business like this in the Phoenix valley. I would haul what ever people need moved. Even is this tuff economy, people always have to move things from point a to point b. I'm not sure about the medical card yet and I know I don't need a CDL, I was a crane operator for 12 years and 18 wheeler driver for 2 so I know a little about driving. At this point extra money would be good, I don't need to make ton's of money just more than I make now which ain't much. I was on FMCSA web site and found out I would need a OP-1 operating authority MC number for $300 per year, so I think thats about it for permits. More google work yet to do, I don't think I need a L.L.C. either according to my wife's research. Thanks again.
Morey

rich

never have the same truck to rack that many miles up in one truck. i put about 200k on them then get rid of them

Colo_River_Ram

So 200k X how many trucks now? I know of 2 hot-shotters that are over the 1 Million Mile Total club.. Man that must b a whole lot of coffee

rich

i'm on my 6th truck right now i need to fix the motor in the 07. i have big trucks now plus i've kinda slowed down so i only run about 75k or so a year
the 06 i bought in june of 08 with 38k on it and its at 108341k now and i have been pretty slow since oil dropped in feb

03whitedually

you may want to check into not needing your CDL if you are going to be more than 10k gvw and pulling a trailer for money my understanding is you will need a class A,you also have to register with your states dept of motor vehicles, ( interstate and intrastate operating authorities ) not to mention a BOC-3 if you are hauling over state lines.

PJDiesel

When it comes to business (in general) you are going to have to do what YOU think makes sense. Getting general input is a great idea, but you can only take it so far.

History tells us that other business's (or individuals) can survive and prosper even in the face of great competition.

You think the people at FedEx were dumb to even give it a whirl with UPS out here? When we were all kids no one knew anything other than the "Up's man"

Just saying, even thought it's a tight economy and there ARE pretty heavy regulations, you gotta do what makes sense to you in the long run.

Business (at the core) is very simple. If it makes sense, DO IT. When it begins to NOT makes sense, stop doing it.

rednekroper05

I would suggest if you are going to do hot shotin or hauling get connected with a company that has access to load boards or get on to load boards such as getloaded.com or some of the others. It can help you find loads.

PJDiesel

I like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Hate to buy something that has a misspelling in the name though, just seems careless for them not to spell check their business name before incorporating.