Pilot Cars

Cronan, I will be in the rest area on I-75, southbound side just a mile south of exit 353. Blue Volvo with a 20' wide load sitting at the very first spot on the truck parking side. Would like to meet you and be happy to answer questions for you. And again, stop by and see me, I'll try and get you on one of my loads because just like this weekend, I'm turning my regular pilots loose tonight so they can race back to Tulsa and escort another set of wings on Sunday and I'm going to use a couple of locals on Monday to take me to Savannah. We (myself and the other wing truck) also hire a third pilot for Tennessee to run out 20 miles ahead of us since Tennessee has open routing and isn't real good about telling us when they have pop-up construction projects and we don't like surprises. We have a guy we have always used but here sometime soon he's going to be having a heart transplant and we'll be needing someone while he's off work. For that job you'll need a good cell phone that has coverage from Dyersburg to Chattanooga and a good noise cancelling Bluetooth. (I use a Bose). I'll e-mail you my number but I'll be busy today getting across Tennessee so I won't answer till after I get parked this afternoon.

 

EXCELLENT advice catalinaflyer

 

catalinaflyer,have you heard of loadcovered.com ?You post your load and it gets texted to all pilot car operators who subscribe to the site.Its free for truckers.Just hauled a 95' long load from Rockford,IL-Toronto,Ont.I posted my load and got 5 calls within 60 seconds.Saves the time to locate a car on simple pilot moves.I will spend more time on a more demanding move,however,this is a good new development for locating pilot cars.Do you know of any other pilot car loadboards?This is the first one I have come up with and it just came online a month ago.
Shoot me an email if you ever need help with Canadian loads.We run 4 rgns.One tandem extendable.Two six axle combinations and one 7 axle combination.$1 million in cargo insurance and zero claims since beginning operations in 2008.
MC 663313 vince@specialteams.ca www.specialteams.ca

 

If you need lights, flags, signs, etc., you may check with Global Truck Parts in Ringgold (exit 348). They have a good selection of lights, etc., and pricing is competitive. Truckpro in Chattanooga also has a good selection of oversized supplies.

 

I haven't heard of that one, I typically run the same load on the same route every week and have a list of pilots that I call on. When I need pilots I have a couple different guys I call that are good about getting my pilots on a moments notice. No offense to the boards, Comdata etc. but I like to spend some time with a pilot before I use them, I'm pretty laid back but I like to know who I'm using and like for them to understand what I want from them as well as understand that this isn't just a piece of plate steel we're moving.

 

Truckpro is one of my first choices for supplies, they usually have what I need without having to wade through 10 isles of overpriced chrome plated plastic junk to get to it.

 

what is the pay like?there was 2 pilot cars in my yard where I fill up my water tanker about a week ago.I over heard them talking about what they get paid and it sparked my interest.they told me they get paid good.they said they both bring home anywhere from 5k to 10k per month depending on how hard they run.they get their work straight from a few brokers they said.I looked up info online and it said pilot cars on avg make around 30k a year...that's not very much to me.So either they were blowing smoke or the info I read up on was for company drivers that work for a sub or something....If the pay is right I was thinking of doing it.Ive been in biz for myself since I was a kid so Im not the run of the mill dummy like has been described above lol.

 

I pay an average of 1.50/mile to a pilot car and 65-100 for a layover in the US
Alberta and BC pilot cars charge 2.50/ mile !!!!!!!!!!
Ontario and Quebec pilot cars charge 2/mile
Out of this rate,a pilot car driver pays for gas,food,insurance,training...not sure what else

 

you are the os driver?

 

yeah they did say they were paid 150 for layovers and 65 a nite for motel rooms if on layover.