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

Looks like my question isn't worth giving an opinion on.
No problem, I knew the answer I wanted to hear, and the one I didn't.
See ya on the road.

 

For anyone wanting to get into the hotshot industry, this gentleman has offered some great advice.

 

Is this Dodge 4 wheel drive. I'm starting up a business with my wife and have been researching and doing my homework. I'm stuck on whether a 4 wheel drive would be worth spending the extra money or is it personal preference. Thanks!!

 

It's better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. If you plan on working year round and work all lower 48, then u definitely want it.

 

Yes this one is a 4 wheel drive. My last one wasn't. Personally I dont feel I need 4 wheel drive for OTR work. The only reason I got it this time around was because I live at 5,000' elevation and I can get as much as 4' of snow here where I live and I daily drive this truck regularly around here. Pulling a trailer in the snow and ice though, 4 wheel drive really isn't going to help as much as you think it would.

 

Hey there folks. A few questions I have if you have the time. Especially the experienced folks, flatbedcarrier and midwest1 and the like, your posts this far have been crazy helpful.
Is there a lot of work available hauling government or military loads? I've been either in the military or working for them for over twenty years, and I see smaller loads going out on 18 wheelers all the time, that could looks like it could easily be hauled by a hotshot setup.
What about these companies pulling RVs all over the place? Is there much money in working for them? It looks like a lot of one way runs, but I haven't talked to anyone who actually does it.
It sounds like as long as a person is willing to be smart about choosing loads, and willing to go OTR and be out for weeks at a time, hotshot trucking is a viable way to make a living outside of bring a wage slave pulling shift work. Does that seem right?
Thanks again for all the help guys. This forum is a lot friendlier and helpful then I expected from an industry that seems to be highly competitive for small operators.

 

The problem with Military loads these days is there so many people bidding on that work that it's drove the rates down substantially. We move some, but only if it's paying good.

RV's, personally I wouldn't mess with them. Not unless I was hauling direct and had them loaded on a trailer so I could put together a return load.

There's work out there, it's not always easy to find though. You really need some connections with good Brokers, and some direct customers. Just trying to run off a load board can be rough.

 

Thanks for the response flatbedcarrier. Another question; I've heard some rumbling on the effect that ELDs will have on hotshot trucking. If you are already running legal on paper, will it really decrease your productivity switching over to ELD? Just curious on how the new mandate might change things or not for the hotshot crowd.

 

It's definitely going to change things for everyone. Hotshot's are not exempt.
Don't let anyone tell you that running an app on your phone will work for the eld.
Whatever device you use has to be plugged into the trucks ecm

 

Everything in Flatbedcarrier's statement is absolutely true.