Hello all, here’s my plight. I’m 52 today and I’ve spent the last 20 yrs working for the railroad. Prior to that, 15yrs trucking(coal buckets,some flats, reefer and doubles for roadway). As of this past feb,I’ve been out of work due to a low back injury, I’ve since made full recovery and feel as well as one could.since 2011 I’ve also had 2 back surgeries and as just mentioned,mostly full recoveries.NOW, the railroad can’t clear me to return to work stating..Its a liability issue. That being said, I’m 50+ and a wife plus an adopted grandson age 5 and it may be doubtful i get my Disabilty from the RRB(railroad retirement board) and i have to WORK! I’m also getting a somewhat small settlement and was looking at Hotshot freight and was thinking of paying cash for a Dodge3500 and new 40ft trailer, not being able to navigate the incessant maze of paperwork to go Full O/O, what’s my best shot at leasing on and to whom? Guys/Gals, i never thought I’d be out in the cold as i am now, i just have to make something work! Thanks

As mentioned above. It’s not a solution to your situation.
Speaking from first hand experiences.
There is a recession looming, low oil prices, and too much wear and tear on you and your equipment.

Strongly urge you to hold onto the $ you’d spend as a cushion/supplement to something else local and less headache.

All the best to you. We just saved you $100K minimum. Literally.

Thanks guys. All I’m doing is some local stuff with the 3 car wedge(150 mile radius) on the weekends, so I’m not going to be hard on it.

Make sure you look into whats needed to do any kind of commercial venture like this. Determine if you need a USDOT# before they do. Get some cargo/liability and all the other insurance quotes. It used to be easy to run under the radar. Not so much anymore. Doing just weekends most likely won’t cover your overhead to run legit.

Not trying to rain on your plans in any way. It’s not a good feeling when something happens and your butt isn’t properly covered. And if a company you get hired out to says they don’t care about what coverage you have, run the other way. It will always fall back on you. I’m speaking from experience, not hearsay or good ole boy deals.

If you’ve ever watched the Show Highway thru he ll, there’s a quick scene of a trailer with campers on it down at the bottom of a mountain after it left the road. I’m not 100% certain this is the same guy that was running a load for hire or not but it sure looks like it. Long story short he didn’t have the trailer registered commercially that the campers were strapped to. It was a simple mistake on his part. The trailer he normally used was getting work done and he borrowed this one from a friend.

His truck was registered commercially but the insurance company found a loophole. Sharing this as another example of how if there’s any question about if you’re legally registered and insured, it will all fall back on you.