21 Violations By Hot Shot

Yeah, I agree. Most of the guys who start Hot Shot don't have a clue about the rules. Some may have experience driving but they don't know the administrative rules. But some just think its easy money, buy a truck/trailer and hit the road. They may as well put on a blindfold while driving.

This industry is way too regulated with too many rules for a new O/O, especially a new entrant hot shot. Its tough for someone with a fair amount of experience in the business, But a greenhorn, is in for a hard lesson. And I agree, a hot shot is just a DOT magnet.

 

I agree that a lot of the violations are nit-picking... But that's not uncommon with DOT and hot shots. That's one of my points about how hard it is to run a hot shot. This is a highly regulated industry and with most hot shot O/O not knowing the rules and again, just buy a truck/trailer and hit the road with money blowing in the wind (free and easy). Most of the hot shot O/Os have no clue and DOT knows they are easy pickings. And because most new entrant hot shot O/Os have no clue about the industry regulations/rules, DOT has become serious hard core toward hot shots in general. Over the years, I have found that DOT is overly hard on hot shots because they are not even close to knowing how to operate and manage a trucking business.
So, it's not just abusive nit-picking in this isolated case. In my opinion, this is common-place with hot shots and this is what I harp on as the single biggest issue getting into the hot shot business.

People don't know the regulations and DOT is overly hard on them more times than not, writing as many nit-picking violations as possible.
Even if you can manage to get loads, you're going to loose most if not more than you make in violations.... more-so with new entrants, which is probably 85% - 90% of the new hot shot start-ups.

 

Maryland is hell on the little trucks, and has been at least for as long as I’ve been at this.