10 years or newer

I can't imagine anyone would care how old your flatbed trailer is.

 

In my one year of owning my own dry van it kept me from booking one load, which wasn't anything special, and I ended up getting something better anyway. There were a couple/few more who claimed to care via signage once I showed up, but they never paid any attention, and loaded my 14 y/o trailer without a peep. I think in those cases they mainly use it as an out in case you're looking sketchy, but if you keep it clean and solid then they let you slide on thru.

 

As

Exactly.As long as the floor isn't fulla holes.Saw a guy trying to patch his at Elk...he got refused.

 

Auto plants are very picky about trailer age. Of course auto parts loads tend to be very low paying, so it's no surprise you haven't ran one.

 

Depends on the individual shipper tbh. Some are nitpicky as hell others could care less. It also depends on what the load is too. A load of high value, fragile items may be too much to insure by the shipper on an older trailer for example or they may have something that absolutely cant get wet and arent willing to even risk an old trailer.

More often though they care about the maintaince or looks of the trailer. I have seen guys with a current year trailer get rejected because it was all tore up and flithy and i have seen guys pick up at "age restricted" places with 20+ year old trailers that looked like they just rolled off the factory showroom floor.

Just keep your #### in good shape and 99.99% of the time it wont be an issue. For the 0.01% of the time it is you can likely find 12 other equally well paying jobs with freight the way it is.

 

Lol, I've hauled some cheap freight. I just don't like to admit it, because it's easier to lie to myself than face reality.

 

IMHO the trailer can be 30 years old. As long as it’s clean and safe you are good to go. Show up to a shipper with a rotted trailer and holes in the floor and you will then have a problem. It’s not the age of the trailer it’s the condition.

 

The only time that I've seen this to be an issue is on paper loads, specifically roll stock. Those rolls are ####ing heavy and they take up a smallish area per roll. The reason that they require a 10yr or newer trailer, is because of metal fatigue and holes in the floor. I run a 20 yr old carpet spec trailer in decent shape and I have never been turned down for a load because of age. I did however grab a low limb one night and was rejected that day at a paper manufacturer for the hole. I fixed it returned an hour later and loaded.