I know starting an business is hard and all up hill folks try to rape you every chance they get by not paying or something else and I kinda think that the gov would tax the day lights out of in the 70's trucking was easy money not its all tied down and a pain to make it in when you starting out unless you know folks and can trust them.
Lucky for me I got in good with a trust worthy account to start off with. I started off in the camper haulin business and also made some contats there that i still use and haul for.
Is that a rolling mile or loaded mile? As for start up cost your DOT #s are just under a grand. Insurance varys, truck and trailer cost, maintence, fuel, food, all have to be figured in too. It takes ALOT to get started. And its not a part time gig either.
Snow Dual Rear Wheels want to float on top of the ice and snow instead of sinking into the nastey stuff and getting a good bite. a 4WD with the extra weight of the diesel on the front axle will get the extra traction. Put a set of snow chains on the outside duals, slip it into 4WD, and you will be amazed at how good it will go up a hill!!! I know this from lots of years and miles. My 03 dodge just spun #6 rod bearing after 330,000 miles, so I am selling a aux 100 gal fuel tank, deer killer front bumper, rear air bags, full gauges, Gorend TQ, Banks 4 in stainless exhaust. Am going to fix the truck for own use and go back to driving a semi. Come and get the goodies!!!!!!!!!
Its loaded mile. It also pays for down time while the truck gets loaded and unloaded. We come out with about $500 per load minus fuel puts you at $400 for a 360mile round trip. About 50% of the time we should have a load coming back too for the same pay. That is using his DOT#s and the only labor I have to do is strap down the load and drive. This is just one account of many that will start and this is a lower paying contract. We should have our own DOT#s in a month or so and then we can start getting our own contracts instead of working for this other HotShot company.
$2.25 isn't bad I guess, when you consider fuel conumption of a 5.9L engine vs. a 14L. The key is how good your broker is, where they can get you loads, the type of loads, and how good they are at keeping your dead head miles to a minimum. You start dead heading enough and 2.25 won't do you much good. Disbatchers are like coaches. Some are better than others and the success of the "team" rides on their shoulders.
$2.25 per mile is not bad, but that should not include fuel or insurance. We charge 23% FSC (fuel service charge -varies with fuel prices) and a 14.5% ISC (insurance service charge) For a 100 mile block, line haul is $357.69, FSC is $82.27, and ISC is $51.87. Total ticket $491.83. This is loaded miles, I travel 80% of the time w/o a back haul so my line haul is high. Thats the way it is. the 14.5% ISC covers the customers required load insurance. If you are independent, the 14.5% of line haul will cover all your inurance cost and will actually make aprofit from your insurance. Ive been doing this about 9 years now. I like it and I enjoy being my on boss. Plus driving a new truck every 4 years or less is nice.
Just started my own hotshot company. it is a partnership, we went 90k invested to get 2 07ctd 3500 4X4 duallys, both 6spd, all dot and mc docs, insurance, and most everything else we need. We have a dedicated contract in the oilfields moving 44ft lab/living quarters. they are light units, weighing in at 9-10k field ready, but they have a 2k tounge weight. We went with the Blue Ox hitch, but have already bent the 1500lb bars. They are looking into custom building us 2250 bars. After 3 months, we are making our bills, and even building a balance. but the oilfield can be fickle. As far as costs, DOT/MC was around 1000, we used a prorate company to set this up for us, and after some initial issues, we are very pleased with using this company. They setup apportioned plates for us at 24k max weight, got all our authorities, and I think we paid them about 300 for the service. well worth it if you don't know your way around the federal dot guidlines. annual registration for both trucks (not incl dot/mc)is about 1200 total. Insurance is about 1k/month but that is oilfield conforming, which is much more than standard dot. Our billing rate is around 2.00/mile. and that is both ways. We bill for a round trip, from home to home. I don't know how this relates to standard hotshotting, but we are about 25%of most oilfield hotshotters that I have talked to. We will be renegotiating our contract soon!! Don't know if this novella helps or not, but use it as you will Darin
hauling trailers Hey Guys I talked to a broker out of Indiana a couple of months ago and he was paying $1.75 IF you were hauling 3 trailers on your 53' wedge and around a buck a mile if you pulled say a GNT or a 5th wheel alone. He figured around 2 trips a week, 1000+/- miles a trip (not sure if it was one way or both). Said his top guy was makin $220,000 /yr. hope this helps.
dually snow traction Hey brisk In case you were curious about being empty in the snow with a 2WD in the snow, let me tell ya, empty SUCKS !! I haul gas/fuel for a living year round and the other day when chicago had some snow, loaded was no problem. Empty, on the other hand.... even with the power divider locked in and the air bags dropped (to try to put a little extra weight on the drives ) I was smokin the tires. (8 drives spinin at once and smokin was almost worth bein stuck...not!) I had to dig myself out with a miniature shovel and a bag of kitty litter. About 10 yrs ago at the midwest truck show in Louisville KY, some guy was promoting a device that hung down by the drive tire and actually kind of looked like a roller (that was spun by contacting the tire itself) well the roller device had 8 or 10 chain lengths about 1' or so that looked like an octopus that when you drove, the chain would provide traction when you needed it and it swung out of the way when not. Ok it is class 8 stuff but it still has some applications with hot shot stuff. Hope this helps
