auto transporters

What are rates running y'all in the north east?

Never go for the posted rate, start higher than you'd like to be and see if you can negotiate to a reasonable rate... A lot of cases you need to sell yourself on why you are better than the cheaper guy... A lot of guys don't see it as business, they don't see it as sales, but the moment you become an owner operator you are a business, you are a salesman, you are a driver, you are an accountant and book keeper and more... Don't settle for a posted price on anything..

If you are buying negotiate low, if you are selling negotiate high.

 

You know, as I sit here and read through this post as a 24 year old trying to get into car hauling as a company driver... you guys really make a guy not ever want to take the jump and become an O/O. Getting low balled by being offered .11 cpm runs, broker thieves and all sorts of unexpected and at the same ignorant competition, being only able to pay for the FUEL to get someplace?!?!?! Jeez. I mean don't get me wrong I've been an OTR driver for a little over 3 years, not much by contemporary standards, but enough to get out there and talk to people about how things are going on the "small business driver" side of things... I knew it was bad, just not THIS bad. I feel sorry for all of you who have been doing the #### thing all these years and getting what you deserve only to have an influx of disrespect come flooding back your way. Over a decades worth of service to a customer only to have the rug pulled out from under you for Mr. Johnny Don't Pay me. Rough. All I can say is I wish you all the best, the transportation industry in general is being threatened by so many things, to include autonomous units now (thanks Budweiser), that it just seems impossible to look at the whole picture and go "Man, Da Vinci would've have been jealous of this!" For my sake, and my family's, I hope change comes as I look to make a career out of this...

 

Well to be fair, we have enjoyed a few really good years before now. And being prepared for the slow times is smart for any business. But yes as a company driver you get your paycheck at the end of the week and don't give the rest a second thought. Also though, this is where being leased on to one of the big companies is worth the percentage they take. I haven't heard @Banker complain once about work being slow or the rates not being where they should.

 

I am so happy with Hansen and Adkins and driving my own rig again, I hope the rest of my trucking days are here. I am also on the downhill side of my career and I am working less than I have in years. This is totally my choice, but if someone wants to work there is no shortage of work here. Some freight and terminals pay much better than other. You have to search it out and haul what is best for you. Right now I don't get more than 200 miles from the house, I rattle back mty every trip and I am making a very good return on my investment. Short haul freight pays very good. I also like working with a company and terminal that has the traffic that gets me home every night if I want.

 

Whoops sorry for the bump, got a little tap happy with the phone lol. I figured a sleeper would be a problem on that Freightliner Condor but what I'm more amazed is that the thing is weighing legal...with 12 cars. All the condors I've driven have been heavy duty refuse trucks so heavy frames are a must on these. On another note, out of curiosity which terminal do you work out of banker? I'm currently in the process of moving to Greer SC from Charleston SC and trying to get a leg in with United Road.

 

You might not have much luck getting hired on in Greer with URS. There is more drivers than freight from that terminal now. I could be wrong but just giving you a heads up.
Many want and are throwing URS under the bus for taking the CarMax work. I myself have been leased to them for 13 years if that tells you anything. Here's the thing.....the CarMax is handled by UR logistics in Lavonia which IS NOT the same as URS in Romulus. Rates get talked about on here quite frequently and I could name at least a half dozen carriers (large and small) that cut our rates and took work from URS. This very machine (PC) that I am typing this message on is the #1 reason things are like they are today IMO. Technology has killed this industry as it is too easy to say "sure I'll get the load moved" then they post it on a load board and someone calls and moves it.

 

Not to double post in this thread but you want to help the rates come back up....#1 get rid of the wedge trailers and the guys putting 4-5-6 car trailers behind pickup trucks. I'm not faulting a guy for wanting to work but for a time it was like 5 a week coming on here wanting to "haul cars"
I started in a 2 car rollback. Then I ran a 3 car rollback (one over the cab one on the bed and one on the wheel lift) then a 4 car rollback. Next step...you guessed it a car hauler (you know tractor trailer kind).
That was in the early 90's I started all of this. Those days I did most of my work for BWAE (known as Manheim Baltimore now) We would load cars going to VA beach for $100 a unit and pickup lease turn ins and repos for $175 per unit. Lease turn ins and repos from North Jersey were $175 per unit back to BWAE as well. Now sit back and really look at what I wrote and think about it. Think back to what there was and wasn't at that time. I'm sure I will offend a few but it is what it is.

 

SX thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping that moving to Greer might have an impact but it'd really be tragic if I couldn't get in with URS. I'm so sick and tired of dragging a box and bumping a dock and am just bored with the whole thing. I want a job that'll bring back the excitement and feeling of accomplishment I used to get out of trucking but more importantly I want to just settle in for a future. I'm married with two boys 5 and 3 and originally intended to get on with H&A. Unfortunately I made the mistake of jumping around a bit too much for them and not showing a track record of solidarity with any single company much more than a year. Let's just say that taught me a lesson and as I look to start the second half of my 20s this December I want to do things right. As far as what you've described the way the business used to be like, it seems like somehow the power balance shifted dramatically along the supply chain to get to the way things are now. But then again when you look at the country there's a general sense of unease about things as it stands. '08 definitely made its impact and the low year to year growth of our economy since I imagine has also had a role.

 

This is very similar to how my partner and I started out, except he was one of those wedge guys. I agree with what you are saying, except wedges do have a place in the industry (but not those 5/6 car units behind pickups), however anymore they seem to be the worst of the rate cutters. Neither of us ever cut rates to get work, we competed on top notch service which came at a price. It has only been recently, maybe the last 3 years, that have become increasingly difficult to compete on anything except price, thanks to CA, RAT/RL, CD, etc.

Where the wedges have a place are with the short hauls, like I do. Honestly, I just lost preferred dispatch status this week from my biggest auction, well their dispatch vendor now, because a wedge company can move my units for a lower price, not that they should but doing the numbers they can. But what really hurts, another competitor (multiple stinger units) that I was friendly with, or thought we were, came in and beat that wedge price just so he had southbound work to get a driver home! So even with 14+ years of top notch service it has come down to price and only price, I just lost about 50-60 units per week because I can not and will not cut my rate that much. Glad I have other irons in the fire so to speak, and own other businesses. I don't know what I would do if I had to rely exclusively on my car haul revenue anymore.