How do you guys think HS is gonna be after this?

I'm curious what everyone thinks the market for Hotshot is gonna be after things start rolling again? I've been shut down now for 2 weeks already doing the social distance thing but honestly the rates have been horrible on partials so I'm not convinced I wouldn't be wasting my time even if I was still running.

1st off I think we will be dealing with the CV stuff well into next year..This isn't going away anytime soon, so they are gonna be forced to open #### back up be it good or bad thing to do. So it's essentially gonna be a new reality out there where we simply have to deal with it. I'm in favor of the lock down because if we didn't do it, the hospitals would be over whelmed but sooner or later they are gonna have to try to go back to normal..

For myself, prior to this happening I was about to upgrade trucks & trailers. I was getting very close to pulling the trigger on doing that then this happened. I've been watching the load boards the whole time I've been home and the rates are worse than it was middle of winter and with the tariffs in full swing.. Partials are paying absolute crap..

I've been looking at two new options... If I continue hotshot is switch to a 3/4 car trailer and just do cars for now because I know I can make $1.50-$2/mile doing a 3 car. Or just scrap HS all together and get my self a used semi and either run power only for a bit or lease a trailer.

I got into Hotshot because I didn't really want to drive a semi anymore. Hotshot just has a lot more freedom and I don't have near the issues with parking or as much restrictions on where I go. On flip side I was depending on restaurants and hotels a lot more as hot shot than I did in a Semi. With this CV stuff there is no way I'm going to hotels for some time even when they open up back to normal.

I know guys have suggested single axle semi's because you get the sleeper but my thought on that is if you are gonna be driving a big truck you might as well get tandems and not be limited on your weight because you already have the hassle & expense of the bigger truck.

I've been toying with just going to somewhere like Arrow truck sales and picking up a $30k truck and running that for a while as power only or just use a leased trailer for a while. I've been studying the big truck rates for a bit and seems they have not been hit anywhere as badly as the spot market on partials has..

I'm curious what other guys are thinking right now who are running hotshot. I've talked to a few other guys doing hotshot and they all say the same the rates are worse than ever..

 

Yeah that's why I was looking at the custom trailer option as well prior to the outbreak.. I wanted to build a hotshot step deck set up so the gooseneck was very low so I could load 3 cars on a 40' or carry regular freight. essentially a much better set up than my current one. However when I look at the cost of all that sort of upgrade and dealing with the small truck situation, no sleeper and hotels not being safe option... I'm starting to rethink HS all to together. I mean for the expense of a new truck and custom trailer I could just buy a semi and have a lot less load limits but then back to the things I didn't like about semis....

I guess more than anything it's a frustrating time right now due to all the uncertainty.. I still think it's going to end up being a drivers market once we get back to normal but how long that will be I don't know.. I do agree though a lot of these cheap freight guys will be gone at least for awhile..

 

No.. I stopped when this CV stuff started getting bad. Came home 2 Fridays ago with a load I delivered 30 miles from my house that following Monday. Kinda felt guys who aren't hauling essential freight shouldn't be out there at the moment.