I've retired from the military and am wanting to get into this business for myself, but first I would like to hear from some of the pro's about the RIGHT way of going about it. I live in Southern Calif. but am planning on moving out eventually, or as soon as the housing market improves. If anyone is willing to offer their advise, comments, criticisms or general 2 cents, I would be greatly appreciative. Please send PM.
There are no pro's of hot shotting. The only way to make money is to play in every grey area there is and roll the dice on legality issues.
The more we tried to make our trucks legal the more fines we were given. No we are just a guy on vacation and rarely get questioned.
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1996 F-250 extended cab long box five speed. Home made Tymar, 203 Stat, 60 gal in bed fuel cell, 315/75's, no muffler, ebpv welded open 3" to 3" DP, Babies. 290K, still chugging, and still smoking when cold.
UPDATED 8/1/08 Replace so far. 1 LUK flywheel+clutch, 2 thermostats, 2 set of brakes, 1 set of calipers, 5 CPS, 3 sets of tires, 2 Transfer pumps, 1 Injector modual, 1 Computer, 2 Alt, 2 sets of batteries, 1 Water pump, 6 Belts, 1 PS hose, 2 Sets ball joints, 2 set u-joints, 2 carrier bearing, 2 Speed sensors, 1 oil pres sender, 1 temp sender, 4 sets of e-break cables, 1 front fuel tank, 2 rear fuel tanks, 2 set of glow plugs, 6 Glow plug relays, Oil galley o-rings, Turbo pedistal o-rings, EBPV o-rings, 3 sets of Injector O-rings, 1 Vac-pump, 1 new carpet.Total $$$ in repairs v/s miles driven = 3.0 cents per mile. Add fuel to that it jumps to 14.8 cents per mile over the life of the truck.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MarkEkberg</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are no pro's of hot shotting. The only way to make money is to play in every grey area there is and roll the dice on legality issues.
The more we tried to make our trucks legal the more fines we were given. No we are just a guy on vacation and rarely get questioned. </div></div>
I've got to say that is the truth. I scraped my DOT numbers off about 4 years ago and haven't looked back. I work a day job and do some hauling on the side. Much happier and make more money.
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Keith
2000 F350 Cab/Chassis CrewCab 4x4 DRW 7.3/auto "Hamilton Custom Cruiser Conversion" WesternHauler Bed 50gal TFI transfer tank 4" turbo back Exh. DIY intake w/Napa 6637
'88 F350 CrewCab SRW 4x4 7.3/C6/4.10LS Banks non-wastegated turbo NAPA 6637 airfilter 4" lift Airlift rear airbags 107k miles
'86 F250 ext cab. 4x4 6.9/C6/3.55 arrowcraft dually conversion 45gal aft tank ?53k miles
'85 F350 Cab/Chassis DRW 55" Schwalbe Sleeper 7.3/T-19, 4.10, Banks Sidewinder wastegated Turbo Holley red tweaked inj.pump 6.2 governor and STACKS! The old 6.9 gave up after 445k miles.Stacked before stacks were cool since 5/85 **SOLD** My Pics
'86 F350 Crewcab Dually 6.9/C-6/4.10 LS Racor seperator. 233k miles **SOLD**
'89 F350 Crewcab SRW 4x4 7.3/zf5/4.10LS 193k miles**SOLD**
From my past experience, 45yrs of pulling private loads, I've made several observations.
My most recent 7 State 3600 mile trip, summer of 05, increasing load weight from 26000lbs to 31000lbs was a huge weight increase for my F350 DRW and it will NOT be cost effective to run at 31kGCW. Maintance/repair costs will far exceed available income.
If you research user named, Pat Dolan, you will find he's using a F450 for commerical hauls and confirms my above thoughts.
My cost for that trip with average fuel cost at $2.65gal was $0.48mile ( based on commerical costs) based upon 300k mile life time usage, and does not include labor. Food and lodging was included.
Since I'm not a commerical trucker (CT), lets assume using a commerical truck would double our costs or $0.96mile based upon 600k miles without labor, then I could figure I could make 1/3 more net income using this truck as I can haul 3 times the load weight than my F350 can.
In the real world, I would do much better than my estimate of 1/3 more net income as the CT will last twice as long with lower maintance/repair/replacement costs than my F350. Without being in the CT bizz, the actual savings would be hard to figure.
Yes, the $.96/mile CT include the higher expence of the CT&T costs and is a fair comparrison when I considered that most CT firms upgrade there fleets at 600k miles.
I'm pretty sure that load brokers also can do the above math so why would they want to pay me the same rate when I'm hauling only 1/3 the load weight? That's why you can NOT make money hot shoting while using a load broker. That only leaves speciality loads for hot shoting. Have you noticed the prices paid to hot shoting trucks? I've seen quite a few prices in the $.80/mile range and usually requires a long loading time. I can't make any money at $.80/mile in fact I will loose money and have no income.
I tried to pick up a back haul to cover costs on my last trip using specility load hauling. In two weeks advertising, I got alot of offers for loads not even paying my one way fuel costs much less trying to make a few bucks. I had alot of load brokers call me too so it wasn't like no one wanted something hauled, it was just they didn't want to pay a resonable rate.
Making money hot shoting? I don't think so. Making a few extra bucks? Yep I can see that as then you can choose your loads that will make you a few bucks.
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T_Bone
02 F350, 4X6, Crew, DRW, LWB, PSD, 6spd, 3:73, Island Blue, Stock, AEB2, Phoenix Az
Buy UNION work UNION. It pays off in the long run Define Union: A labor Union is nothing more than united workers with a common goal for better working conditions.
We all are in some sort of labor Union, some are just larger than others with better working conditions!
I looked into running loads on my flatbed. The rates that were available would ahve only been profitable with no deadhead, which is not really feasible with a specialized transport vehicle.
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1985 International rollback, 6.9L 5 speed "Li'l Big Truck"
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