Thinking of hauling cars

Are you going to be a Company Driver or what? leased Op or O/O I highly do not suggest that you go O/O till you have some experience of strapping/chaining those rolling bullets down!! No one will go with you till they know you know how to care for their merchandise. I'm out west and thinking about going this route...

 

The best way to learn about hauling cars is to sign on with a company that will train you. This will help with your learning curve and help to reduce damages. Training is usually about 2 to 4 weeks depending on the trainee and the company you sign on with. Most car hauling companies don't like to train new drivers because of how much damages cost them in the first year. But don't be discouraged, get trained, get experience, learn from your mistakes and damages (they will happen no matter how long you end up hauling cars, it's just the nature of the industry), and take your time. Hauling cars is a Marathon, not a race. By paying attention to your training and making sure you are following your steps correctly, the speed you want will just come naturally over time. As far as money is concerned, starting out you will probably be in the 40k range or so the first year and after a couple of years you should be able to make in the 60k to 90k depending on what you are hauling and how fast you can work. Also car hauling takes a certain type of personality. You have to like puzzles and challenges, not be afraid of heights, willing to work long hours an all kinds of weather, be a people person as you will be dealing directly with dealers and customers and be self motivated. If this sound like fun by all means try it. I have been doing it for over 15 years and would not do any other type of truck driving.

 

I will start with the easy question first. New cars are assigned a row and bay # at the location where you would be picking them up at. For example, row C, space or bay 47 or row BB, space or bay 19 (C47, BB19). This helps you find the cars quickly.

Now for the harder question, how to determine whether to drive or back a vehicle on the truck. A lot of this depends on the make and manufacturer of the equipment you are loading (ie. Boydstun, Cottrell, Delevan, or other brand of car carrier) and whether it's a 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or more car set up. Most likely you are thinking about a 9/10 car Cottrell or Boydstun car carrier which are the two most common setups being used. To be honest, there is no real set way to load a car carrier. It changes every time you load depending on what type of vehicles you have (ie. car, truck, van, etc) and how you need to distribute the weight of the vehicles.

I will described a base line that most drivers use as a starting point when building or designing a load.

A standard car hauler has 9 basic tables. They are referred to by their number. Table #1 is the one over the engine, #2 is on top behind the cab, #3 is top front of the trailer, #4 is top middle and #5 is top back of the trailer. Table #6 is behind the cab on the bottom, #7 is bottom front of the trailer, #8 is bottom middle and #9 is bottom back end of the trailer.

The standard way to load goes like this.... #1, backed on, #2 drive on, #3 backed, #4 drive, #5 drive, #6 backed, #7 drive, #8 backed and #9 drive. Now remember, this just a starting point. Some drivers will drive #1 on or back on #7 depending on weight distribution or to get their height down under 14' or 13.5'. Also certain vehicles can only be loaded one way. For example, convertibles and trucks with canopies should only be driven on. If they are backed on the wind could tear the canopy or roof of of these vehicles.

Also you would ideally want to load the cars so they can be delivered in order, so you don't have to reload one. Rule of thumb is first on last off.

Now this being said, it doesn't always work out this way. There are so many variables that change with each load that you have to be flexible and think outside the box sometimes when loading. Every truck is different and they have to be loaded differently. Most drivers are assigned a truck and they get to know that particular truck on a very intimate basis. They learn it's idiosyncrasies and personality. Over time they learn how it likes to be loaded and what is the most efficient way to load that particular truck. Your trainers will go over this while you are training.

There is so many details and variables involved with hauling cars it is impossible to explain it all in a short post. But I hope I have given you a general answer to you question.

 

Heres how i load my truck.



Im glad i made the switch to car hauling 5 months ago

 

Looks like a good load to me.