So you want to hot-shot? (Will be updated/edited frequently)

I run under 26k children are all out the house. I have a little nitch in the market. I would advise to operate with the larger capacity and not limit yourself.

 

Midwest1 is right the economy is really tough right now. And trying to support a family without some contacts starting out is going to be a gamble at best.

 

I agree with Lite Bug and Midwest1.

Is there anybody doing any manufacturing at all around where you live? If there is, you should go talk to them about hauling for them. If you could at least set up a out bound load connection in your area it would really make a difference.

 

So, I reached out on here for advice a little while back and pretty much went all In on a Hot Shot Business.
First off its not cheap to get going I'm approximately 40K in it and I financed my truck. Every move your required to make cost money and usually its not cheap. I've been working sole off load boards I thought I might have had some connections in the oil fields but, the oil field thing is dead right now.

Anyway Load Boards, what a nightmare its been trying to get anything worth starting your truck for most brokers on these boards are trying move freight for dirt cheap. For example: A 12k pound fork lift from Denver CO, to Arizona about a 1000 mile trip they want to pay $600.00 for it. All you can really do is laugh and tell them no thank you but, there's always someone out there that will move the freight for any price listed it seems like. Which is killing the business you cant negotiate the price very much because they are 100% positive they will get the freight moved. Its very frustrating and you have to be very patient and wait for a good load to come along. I have sometimes waited up to 3 days before I can land something worth the trip.
I can proudly say that I haven't taken a load that has paid less then $1.8 a mile which is the reason I've had to sit for a day or two or three sometimes.

I have been hearing a rumor that UBER is trying to get into the the Trucking business and would cut out the middle man "Broker" one can only wait and hope its true.. It would be ideal to work directly with the shipper.

Please keep in mind I'm speaking from my personal experience and I work out of Colorado.

 

I heard of some company that is doing this. Can't remember the name of it but it's like you said, it eliminates the middle man.
I've got my truck, trailer and things ready to go. I've decided to lease mine on with a company and see how that works out first. I've read through the contract and talked to them personally but I'm not going to do anything until after this election and the world calms down.
I'm fortunate to have a job that I can ride out until after the first.

 

Yes eliminating the middle man is what we as truckers/worker needs. Doesn't make sense to keep the broker fed at there desk while the trucker is starving. The industry needs a change and its def not what I expected it to be. My plans are to give it another whirl in the hot spots of the states and see if I can stay busy that way maybe leave home for a few weeks and try that.
I cant imagine that brokers are any different in other states but, I have heard of some more frequent loads in the Mid to East Coast States. If that falls through I'm just going to lease out my equipment to a family member and get back to being a rough neck in the Oil Fields.
Unfortunately I was laid off late last year and chose to chase my dream of being an owner operator. My advice is yes keep your job and ride it out.
Hopefully soon the industry will fix itself and truckers can make real money again. Not only Hot Shots but I have a few friends with big rigs struggling also. At least with a big rig you have more options and not limited on what you can haul. Makes things a lot harder trying to find anything with a 40' trailer gvwr 25,900
Hopefully I can be back on here soon with good news from different states other then the ones I've been operating in.
At this point in my personal hot shot experience it hasn't been worth it and wish I wouldn't have listened to some bad advise I was getting from the beginning. "4-5k a week easy" well its not so easy..
I'm not giving up yet but, I wish I would have established some stable work before jumping in it blind.

 

I'm also a fairly new hot shot. I've been in this now for almost two years now. I have been able to gain a few direct customers but even with them it's still not enough to keep me busy. Luckily, I'm not solely dependent on this business to pay my bills.

Every day there's someone new on this forum that wants to run hotshot and thinks this is a easy business to get into and make money. People jump into this business and finance all there equipment and then are forced to take this low paying freight that will without a doubt bankrupt you. I agree with you I would advise against getting into this business. Its going to get even worse when the electronic log mandate goes into affect.

 

Really liking the information provided here. I have been driving CDL vehicles for 5 years. I have a Class B CDL with air brakes and tanker endorsement. I am a professional private wildland firefighter and have a 3750 gallon water truck.

We am also looking at getting into hotshot trucking to keep us busy when we are not assigned to an incident. I already own a F350 and an 18' car hauler trailer that I have used privately in the past that we are looking to start using commercially. Since I already have the water truck we already have DOT and MC numbers which is a huge jump start getting into hauling.

The question that I have currently relates to my Class B CDL and my current truck and trailer setup. My truck is rated for 12600 GVW and the trailer is at 7000. This puts be below the 26,000 required for a CDL. However, eventually if things look promising I would like to get my Class A and move up to a bigger truck and trailer. I have also thought of just getting a bigger trailer and using the truck that I have. When I go to register for IRP, and do as flatbedcarrier has suggested, and register at 40000, is that the number that I have to display on the truck? Because if that is the case then I am going to need my Class A CDL to even get started. I am also wondering if I register for 20000 GVW can I go back and change that later when I get my Class A and a larger trailer? Sorry if this is all very confusing. My brain is going a million miles an hour in hundreds of directions right now. Hope it makes enough sense.

 

BankTrucking, I can tell you this, trying to load out of Colorado off of a load board the last couple of weeks would've been very difficult for anyone. It's been very slow in Colorado.

I've said this many times over the years and I'll say it again for those of you reading this who are just getting started. Its imperative that you make those broker connections. This week alone, because of some of the brokers that we've worked with for years, we've been handed several loads here paying extremely well. I'm talking about 1000/1100 mile loads paying as much as $4,400.00. While everyone out there is struggling, our broker connections have been taking really good care of us.

I've seen hundreds of posts, and have talked to hundreds of owner operators over the years who thaught they could cut out the middle man. It was a pipe dream for most, very few had any real success trying that.

All you have to do is avoid the brokers out there offering cheap freight. And do a good job for the brokers that treat you fair. Yes, starting out that can mean sitting around some, waiting for the right load to pop up. As time goes by and the good brokers get to know you, you'll do less and less sitting waiting for a descent paying load to come your way. They'll see you looking, or they'll see you posted, and they will call you first.

We get some of our best paying loads from brokers. And I can't tell you how many times that our broker connections have kept us loaded and profitable while many other carriers, and owner operators were going under.

 

Not sure where you're based but My state (CA) started something knew a couple of years ago. When you buy a new pickup truck and register it for a certain weight, you can no longer increase that weight later on. All east that's what I was told. I didn't dig into that because I was already planning on registering at 40k under IRP.

Out of the gate I'd suggest you get the class A CDL, register the truck for 40k under IRP, and get a bigger trailer.

In most states getting a CDL to hotshot is fairly simple. You don't need all the endorsements like hazmat, doubles/triples, tanker, or air brakes. That just leaves younwith only taking the general knowledge part of the CDL test, the walk around inspection, and the drive test. And in most states, you can take the test in the truck and trailer that'll you'll be driving.

The trailer you have right now, it won't work for the CDL A test though. The trailer will have to be a GN/fifth wheel with a GVW of all east 10,001 lb to qualify for a class A CDL.