Car Haulers MERGED

My husband worked for PMTG (Precision Motor Transport), aka Bavarian Motor Transport, or Tri Star. This was the worst car hauling job he ever had. He had over 8 years of car hauling experience, and the truck they gave him took him almost a whole day to load. When he worked for Allied, he could load in an hour to an hour and a half. The compensation was bad, too. Everything was paid by zone, rather than by mile, $25 to deliver a BMW to Mass., and the benefits were not that great either. If you want to be trained, go for it, but don't expect to make as much money as they say you can.

For experienced car haulers, Diversified out of Boston isn't that bad. The equipment is nice, well-maintained, home every day, full benefits, a great Christmas party.

Husband is now with Leaseway, a union carrier. Car hauling money is very good, he doesn't usually make less than $1000/wk, benefits are excellent, no premiums, and copays for dr. visits very low, $10.

 

I hauled cars and any carhauler can be a dumb truck driver, but not every dumb truck driver can be a carhauler. It is a specialized field and that is why it still is one of the few remaining good paying driving jobs!

 

My husband has worked for PMTG for three years now, anyone who takes almost a full day to load a truck is NOT doing something right. When he first started yes it took maybe 3 hours to find, load and strap down his cars, in part due to learning the system of where the cars where and secondly due to nerves. Now it can be done in an hour and a half or maybe two.....and there are people at the ports to help drivers if they are having a problem, all they have to do is ASK. I have heard other drivers talking with my hubby and they are always offering tips, delivery info etc....the drivers help eachother out all the time.

There is NO reason it should take anyone more than 3 hours to load even on a bad day when a different car has to be found to replace one that for whatever reason is not available to ship.

PMTG has been thus far a GREAT company to work for, there are local, regoinal and otr drivers and the pay is based on where the car is picked up and where it is droped off. They pay per-diem, holidays, breakdown etc.

No company is perfect BUT after 20 years in the business PMTG has been the BEST one so far for my husband the driver and for me the family at home. The biggest reason I can see for a guy to be in port loading for almost a full day is NOT loading but yaking to everyone in the office and just dorking around. I dont care if its a pan or bar truck, there was something VERY wrong going on there.

My husband is in the otr division and his pay checks are good, I quit my job (thank God, now I can care for my dad) thanks to PMTG. This job is what YOU the driver make of it.

 

Does anyone know of any companies in east TX. or that run through here?

 

As I had stated in my post, my husband had more than 8 years of car hauling experience before he worked for PMTG, he could load in an hour and a half at the most, and flip his trip in 10-12 hours. The truck he had at PMTG was not the truck they usually give to the new guys, the ones that are easy to load.

He didn't spend time yakking in the yard, all the time spent was loading the piece of junk truck he was issued. When he tried to get them to issue him an 8 pack, instead of the truck he had, they wouldn't do it.

He now works for Leaseway, and again has a quick loader, like he used to have with Allied, and loads 8-9 cars in an hour and a quarter. He is an excellent car hauler and has been told that by many people. His damage rate is 99.9% clean, and he has received many awards for safe driving and damage free deliveries.

PMTG may be a great company for your family, and I'm glad you are able to stay home, but it wasn't good for him. Everybody who was in my husband's training class has already left the company because of the pay, and the lack of home time.

There are better car hauling companies out there, you just have to ask.

 

Union carhaulers average 1.05 to 1.20/ loaded mile and deadhead for free. The trick is to pick your trips towards a good backhaul location-if you want to backhaul,some guys don't. Most of the non-union carriers I've talked to pay % and since their rates are cheaper so is the paycheck. It's pretty easy to make 75K + a year working 10 monthes or so.(Almost all car plants are down in Dec & July) I'll be honestthough, I wanted to quit about every day the first year because of the learning curve! After you learn the ropes you won't want to go back to "freight" trucking. AS far as hauling cars as a O/O, you would definately want to learn as a company driver because you will make mistakes and they can get pretty exspensive! Hope this helps.

 

You might want to check Jack Cooper (union) or United Road (non-union) they both run Texas quite a bit.

 

Actually the "piece of junk truck" you are probably referring to is the easiest truck to load in the car hauling industry with the exception of those 3-4 car wally mo trailers. I have been with PMTG for over a year now and will gross over $90,000 this year. It seems to me like your hubby just didn't give it a chance. Good luck to him at Leaseway even though they have been in bankruptcy since early 2006. The only regret I have with PMTG is that I didn't start there sooner.

 

If it was the easiest truck to load, he would have had it loaded in a hour like he does with other trucks.

PMTG just wasn't the right fit for him, glad it is for you. I don't know where you are located, but the pay in the Northeast was not the best. And even though Leaseway has been in bankruptcy (not news to us, BTW), they are still working and making a great living, with the best health and pension benefits.

 

I am a Northeast Regional driver. I get home more nights than I stay out. I know it is not the norm for PMTG drivers to get alot of nights home. I live half-way between Jersey City and Baltimore so I mostly just run up and down the coast, 2 loads a day. I didn't read one of your posts correctly, I'm sorry. He wasn't in an 8 pack? Was he in one of the old Auto Elite trucks?