lease-on deal I was looking at

a snap-over binder can be dangerous I am told. The ratcheting ones are safer. Those ones with the fold down handle I am told are the ones to have because they store easier

Peerless | QuikBinder®

I crunched some numbers and thought on it some more and decided it wasn't worth it, so I backed out yesterday. Too many stipulations and strings attached for me and I don't want some dispatcher back-seat driving my truck for me. I could just go get another company driving job if I wanted to put up with that again, which I don't. If it's my truck and my fuel bill I'm doing what I want to do and I'm going home when I feel like going home and don't want to argue with anybody about it or be questioned on it. I see you can make good money though if you have a truck and trailer paid for, are getting 100% of the line-haul, and are only paying $600-700 a month for the insurance. (Way better than hauling RVs one way). On the other hand, giving away 20% of the gross, being on the hook for almost $300 a week in fees, and the tougher MPG with pulling a trailer all the time, it really didn't look like I'd make that much more per week than some of the better weeks I've done hauling campers to make it worth the trouble. Plus he was expecting me to fix and maintain the trailer as if it were mine which sounded like something I didn't want to be liable for. Plus all the flatbed rigging to the tune of $700-800 bucks to get started. It was all enough me make me say "ehh"

 

That's one of the main selling points of the RV hauling outfits...aside from the occasional favor they mostly leave you alone to run however you want to run with minimal backseat driving. Some of them require you haul 1 load a month to stay active on the insurance but that's about it. I could buy a Shipshe trailer and lease it on with $3/mi loads with the same flexibility and they only get into you for around 10-15% to use their authority on a backhaul.

 

They all allow backhauls and usually it's vehicles off Central Dispatch since that type of trailer is basically a specialized car trailer with an extra low deck and has the center rail for winching smaller trailers up onto it. Because of it's design it's not generally useful for freight. Tractors maybe. Some of them have stake pockets and rub rails just like a regular flatbed...that might be optional when they are built. Has pooched decking for using double J hook ratchet straps to strap directly over the tires of vehicles or trailers, and ball towers that slide up and down the center track to secure the tongue ends of trailers. Good example of a nice one:

https://www.truckpaper.com/listings/trailers/for-sale/216380773/2015-shipshe-drop-deck

Similar one with better pictures...also nice but specs are way too heavy for non-CDL:

https://www.truckpaper.com/listings/trailers/for-sale/216320533/2021-kann-53-ft-x-102-in

How much they weigh depends on the options but that one in the ad with aluminum decking is probably around 7,000 lbs empty and they usually derate them as 12k trailers so 1-ton dually guys can pull them with a 14k truck. That second one is a heavy spec with what looks like dual 15k Dexters and steel deck and a bunch of tool boxes. It probably weighs 10,000 lbs empty at least and also probably a 26k GVWR. The RV units themselves vary a lot in size and weight but a typical double load like you saw is usually 20-24 ft single axle trailers and they usually weigh somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 lbs each. The Forest River units I used to haul started listing the shipping weight on the VIN sticker which I thought was interesting to note. That would pay around $3 a mile right now...how long that will last who knows but the rates haven't come down too much yet from back in the Spring. On the backhauls they usually take around 10-15% depending if they book it or you do.

What I'm not sure on is how the financing works with that stuff. I don't know if a bank would finance something like that as a regular automotive purchase like a 1-ton dually, or if I'd have to get some special business or commercial loan, which I already don't like the sound of (lol). I haven't borrowed money to buy anything in about a decade but short of a winning lotto ticket I'd have no choice but to sign up for payments.

 

Two cars or small trailers would be about the limit for 26k and under non-CDL. A lot of guys with those trailers are CDL based on the GVWR of the power unit they use and how heavy they want to plate it for. They make air brake versions and electric brake versions for either big trucks or small ones, but the most common are the lighter 12k spec ones for 1-tons. Pretty sure they don't do factory finance. On their website they direct people to somebody called Full Circle Finance. They seem to specialize in equipment financing. I'll have to do some more digging on that because I really don't know.

Yeah I don't know about the RV boom thing. From what I hear the bigger single-pull travel trailers and 5th wheels are way down, so a lot of the guys that just have a truck for power only are having a harder time getting the work they want, but the trailer guys that haul the smaller units are a little better off because the smaller units are still selling pretty good. Makes sense...they are cheaper to buy and get better towing MPG. That's just what I hear though. It never totally goes away even in bad economic times and I was pulling them into the yard 12 months out of the year doing local work. Some people will tell you it's only seasonal work but that's BS. A lot of guys only haul them in the fair weather months so that is probably how that rumor got started, however IMO there are some parts of the country that are not a good idea in the middle of winter strictly for safety reasons. 80, 90 and 94 are a particularly bad idea.

 

The 20% didn't bother me as much as how much in fees I'd be on the hook for. Nearly $300 a week with the insurance, trailer rental and parking. I don't like that kind of overhead nibbling away at me if I have to even lose one week due to a truck repair or something.

The RV hauling outfit is very slow and he isn't signing anybody else up right now...all of them are on a hiring freeze AFAIK, unless you've got a trailer and big truck maybe there is still some work hauling the small units off the ground. I had an idea though yesterday. There is a 25 footer with a pair of 7k axles in his yard right down the road from me that one of his other drivers owns and has parked there...a guy I know somewhat. It's right there in front of me and I could afford to buy something like that with cash if he made me a good deal on it. No idea if he's even interested in selling it or if would make any sense at that length of deck, but it has occurred to me that if I were to get my own trailer, the RV guy has said before he'd let me lease it on and run general freight under his company authority. The terms with him would theoretically be far more reasonable IMO...almost nothing per week. I think he charges $80 per month for the RV hauling to his drivers and then of course no weekly trailer rental fee or parking fee if it's my trailer and leased to his outfit. I already have/had a pretty good working relationship with him and know how he operates. I would pretty much have to find my own work...no backseat driving dispatchers here although he'd probably help me out with office stuff. He takes 20% also off all RV deliveries or backhauls. Still a horrible idea with the rates and fuel now? This would be nothing that happens next week or even next month...wrong time of year to start something like this anyway. But this course of action strikes me as a little more realistic and flexible than paying $25k for a Shipshe trailer and then being married to a very cyclical niche operation like RV hauling (or cars). General flatbed freight I know has it's ups and downs as well but is typically a little more steady and resilient isn't it?