How do you car haulers know where a car is?

We get row and bay numbers, so once you know the lot layout, you can find them quickly. Overflow can be a pain, as it's often just area where your car will be among the hundreds of similar ones.

 

That would be common sense on a very large lot. I would be contacting the shipper for a more specific location if none was provided.

 

If only... the Overflow areas are often unbayed. That dark stripe is our overflow area, it's over 2,000 feet long, basically just a double row of cars and trucks, sometimes a few, sometimes fall from one end to the other. All of our Duallys go down there. Good thing is that we can drive alongside of it

 

I haul 99% of the time from a fairly large Toyota Plant/Rail Distribution site. Generally they park units destined for certain geographical areas in the same general locations. This cuts down on load times. I can count on one hand the units misbayed in the last 5 years. Normally if one is misbayed the new location was updated in the computer system when it was moved. The last time I loaded in Montgomery Alabama at Hyundai a few years ago 7 of 9 units were misbayed. I swore I wouldn’t go back there and fortunately I don’t get down that way much.

 

You get really good at knowing paint codes. Nothing worse than looking for a white gmc 1500 in an overflow lot

 

You need to come on down to Ft Wayne where they give us a ride to the units. The best GM yard I have hauled out of since I hauled out of the plant where they lined them up behind the rig. Probably the biggest reason I do an occasional backhaul, besides the revenue it adds to my round trip.

 

Last I knew, Cottage Grove, MN (CN) doesn't allow drivers in the bays. You have to get them a load sheet ahead of time and they line them up so you can inspect.

 

But then I’d have to be like you and load a pickup behind the cab. I’m perfectly fine in the west with the high overpasses

 

I don’t have to load a pickup behind the cab, I choose to. On my rig it fits like a glove! Even a long wheelbase fits rather nicely there. In the past I always would load a second pickup on 2 but I have the space behind the cab so I may as well take advantage of it. One of these backhauls in the near future are going to have 7 out of Ft Wayne. That’s what Jack Cooper trained me to do years ago so I may as well do it!