o/o of 4 car hauler vs 9 car company driver

There's dozens of threads about this. And it's the same story that none one wants to hear:

The 3500 will be wore out junk before you know it.

 

I used to be leased a company that did allot of hotshotting years ago. Trust me, do yourself a favor and get a medium duty truck instead of a light duty pickup truck.
Pickups simply aren't made to withstand the usage like a real commercial truck. You'll have a beat to death pickup truck after about 18 months.

 

Ever see a 4 car trailer hooked to a dually involved in a serious highway accident and the pipe hooked to the less than stellar 5th wheel breaks off? You had better hope you are 4' tall. I've seen more than once the trailer make a convertible out of that P/U.
In 42 years have never seen a semi trailer or stinger trailer bust off, and I've been out on some nasty wrecks

 

You will have just as much seasonal change in volume with auction cars as you do with new cars. You will also have a much greater fluctuation in rates with the auction work, especially if you are doing dealer deliveries or broker board work. All I do is auction work, mostly inbound directly for the auctions (3 different ones) and I have a large swing between my busy season and my slow season.

Also, 4 cars on a Dodge 3500 is way too much, it just is not safe, I do not care what the weight ratings say, we started with a dually and 3 car wedge and got into a tractor trailer quickly because it just wasn't safe or cost effective.

 

Have to be careful with the medium duty stuff as well paying attention to range of service, gearing etc. Saw a lot of people buy those mid range trucks & essentially push them off a cliff within a year & buy a good used class 8.

 

VERY TRUE !! Yes you have to be careful with specs, many are underpowered and over geared. Make sure the specs are good for highway use!!

 

Yep, when you tell most people to buy a medium duty truck they go out a purchase a used Ryder or Uhaul truck, they are the lowest HP/TQ pieces of #### you can buy, you REALLY need to look, AND know what you are looking for to buy a correctly speced MD, If it was me, I would only consider ordering one nothing less than an ISL 380hp but that is just me.

But here again, before you do that, you can buy a used class 8 S/A and be time money and value ahead.

 

I run outta vegas, mostly semis run the auctions here. A majority of the 6 car and under are class 6 and class 8's. Even three carhaulers. The newbies run the pickups so they don't have to stop at the cali scales. Then they go over both passes to so cal. By the time they hit the bottom of el cajon, they are begging for a class 8 with jakes at any price. More than a couple have ended up in the o #### runaway ramp. You can't make money for long in a pickup. I know from experience.