I've been seeing ads for Victory Drive-A-Way all over Elkhart and they're building a new terminal.
Driveaway companies,
Discussion in 'Expediter and Hot Shot Trucking Forum' started by KANSAS TRANSIT, May 31, 2018.
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Lite bug Thanks this.
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Just one thing to keep in mind, as hard as they are pushing EVs, esp for most of what used to be the Driveaway sector, (buses, vans, delivery trucks, step vans) I "could" see that line of work shrinking quickly in the near future, because you ain't driving those EVs more than 100-200 miles tops, most of them will be trucked, It was a leading factor in us taking the steps we did recently? jmho
bzinger and 24kHotshot Thank this. -
Probably, but I don't see plug in electric rigs like that taking over the market any time that soon. Maybe in like a decade a major shift like that will have taken place. I agree those would not be a great idea to try to driveaway transport, at least not with the current EV charging infrastructure. Maybe that will change at some point. There are already people who do cross country trips in their Tesla sedans.
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Driveaway seems like a more specialized type of work than towaway transporting that won't appeal to most people. Most of the guys I see doing towaway work with their own truck wouldn't be cut out for it. First of all living near a major airport almost seems like a requirement. I can get home from O'hare with no car for about $70...done it before. You also need to be at least tech-savy enough to know how to use Uber/Lyft and book a flight or hotel room from a smartphone. And you need to be able bodied enough move around on foot with a suitcase and very comfortable using public transportation. These oldsters or 400 pounders with their diabetes socks hauling RV's with their truck...no way.
But as far as money, I was told anywhere from $.85-1.15/mi with the base rate and fuel surcharge IIRC the conversation I had with Victory. You can make more money with a truck doing towaway but you can also lose more. I don't think most guys doing towaway are making enough to justify the truck payments on new ones or maintenance/repairs bills on old ones.Last edited: Jun 10, 2021
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It does take a special breed that can hop in a different vehicle daily, not be able to "get comfortable" or adjust muchnof anything, live out of a duffle bag and be very creative with their return travel. As a contractor your single most expensive cost will be your personal transport to/from assignments and home. Most driveaway companies understand this and most drivers contract with multiple companies simultaneously so they can try to reduce or eliminate deadhead miles.
Air fare right now is almost prohibitively expensive, so much so that our dealership had to raise our internal rates to cover the near 40% increase in getting our drivers home or to the next truck. One way rental cars are non-existent at the moment and buses have just begun to return to pre-covid schedules. Getting around without loading a tow car has been so problematic that we just bought tow cars for all the company drivers.
We use mostly our own employee drivers, inclusing myself when I can, with a few independent contractors or outside driveaway services. Using the independents is a crap shoot, a few like what they do and are good at it but most are miserable.
You may be successful given you have run your own towaway service so you know how to inspect specialized vehicles, trip plan and treat the gig as a business not just another job.
Personally I enjoy the challenges of driveaway but I am spoiled given I only work for a few dealerships directly and it is very specialized equipment so they pay top dollar. I did contract with Bennett, ATC and Truck Movers for a while as a driver. Out of the three Bennett was the easiest to get what I wanted out of but truck movers had better trucks since they were exclusively brand new units.KANSAS TRANSIT and bzinger Thank this. -
When CNG/LNG vehicles came out the fueling infrastructure was so bad we would be called to tow them along certain parts of the trip, basically the dead spots with no fueling stations. They would then refuel and continue on as a driveaway. I can see this happening with electric units as well until the range is extended.
I can see the shift to electric reducing the number of single units but for the deck sets I can picture a diesel powered chassis as the mule pulling two or three electric chassis piggy back. Given that the major driveaway companies are already accustomed to return shipping of their saddles and other accessories I could even see them strapping diesel powered generator sets to the bare chassis to provide "shore power" or in-motion recharging/alternate electric source to power the truck while in-transit over long distances.
You are correct that the market will change, it is inevitable, but I think it will be more gradual. Driveaway has been the go to method of delivering commercial vehicles since the dawn of time. It will take a lot for that to change.KANSAS TRANSIT and bzinger Thank this. -
Lite bug and KANSAS TRANSIT Thank this.
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brian991219 and bzinger Thank this.
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