Minimum Car Rates

My minimum was $.50 a mile per car. I always wondered who was hauling those cheep cars as well, I would constantly see cars for $.30 a mile or less, especially in Florida. Not sure how the carriers that hauled cars that cheep made any money. My guess is not running legal.

 

Every one will have a different minimum rate they will haul for, for some haulers .30 to .40 per mile works when they are putting 9 or 10 units on a truck. Just as you are using car haul as a back haul some carriers may have good freight into an area and will take the cheaper stuff to go back home. My suggestion to improve rates is for us to stop thinking of freight as either a front haul or back haul, just by thinking of it as a back haul we naturally drop the rate a bit. in my operation I do not make this distinction, I get the same rate both ways, haul for three different auctions in a triangle from where I am based, it works for me and I get the same each way plus keep my trailer loaded almost all the time. As for my minimum, my cost to operate is $2.49 per mile, all miles, which includes my salary but no profit for the business so I try to never take a load that will pay less than $2.60 per mile, most of my loads pay better but this is a minimum. I haul 7 units so that would be .37 cents per mile per unit, which for your operation is too cheap but for mine it works perfectly. Last year my 7 car grossed $240,000 on 80,000 miles and after my salary ($52,000 a year) and medical I still profited about $34,000. I have another post in this section that goes deeper into my numbers, but these are the basics. And, yes, I do run fully legal, have a brand new 2014 trailer, uniforms, medical, etc. I am also a partner in another company that runs a four car and two car carrier, those numbers are not included in this discussion, but those trucks make better money than mine does because they haul exclusively inop vehicles that pay about 40% more than the runners I haul.

 

5 at a time, $1.00+ a mile per car. Have gotten maybe 10 cars from load boards in past 2 years. We haul directly for dealers. Have had dealers go the CD route. They always come back.

 

I believe it also depends on the distance and # of cars. If somebody has a 10-car trailer, all 10 picked up from the same location, and dropped off at another, and it's 2800 mile run one way, then the gross is $8,400 netting close to $5,000 for 5 days work.

 

That's based on 30 cpm.

 

Where did you come up with 5k net???

 

I wouldn't touch a car for that price if there was a nude female model on top of it.

 

Assuming 6mpg fuel cost would be $1400. Then I added $.10/mile maintenance/repair, another $.10 maintenance for trailer, $.20/mile truck payment or depreciation, $.10-.15/mile insurance. $5000 is based on $1.20/mile cost. I know everybody's expense is different but I think it's close to that.

 

Would be hard to refuse that kind of load.