Currently pulling dry van.. I’m wondering what about Refrigerated

I’m based out of Florida I’m currently pulling dry van.. I’m wondering if reefer will be more beneficial and consistent instead of dry van.. If you are in Florida often then you understand the pattern I’m trying to create..


I’m asking this because I’m planning to purchase a trailer so that I can stop being charged for the one I’m using. I just wanna know some options on dry van or refrigerated trailers.

 

It's Florida, a reefer trailer ought to your primary money maker for the whole year. And yeah reefer consistently pays better than van, a lot better. If it doesn't you're not doing it right.

 

You can haul most dry van loads in a reefer. The opposite is not true.

If you tend to haul heavier dry loads, be careful how they load reefer trailers with those dry loads. The reefer unit and fuel shifts the weight forward on your drives a bit. Might need to have a single pallet in the nose of a load you could put side-by-side all the way back in a dry van.

 

There was a time when reefer paid more, but today, I wouldn't even waste my time. Let the megas haul their crappy strawberries. Stay with the van, and maybe get a cheap flatbed, just in case, but I pulled a lot of reefer, and I'd never do it again. While it's true, pulling a reefer MAY get you a bit more, but as mentioned, they weigh more and generally not preferred by van loaders, and to be honest, the places I went with a reefer were just the worst. SuperValu, Certified, just nightmares unloading. Good thing I was paid by the hour. Stay with the simple van, the south has lots of van freight.

 

I was a company driver for a reefer outfit and was never stuck in Florida.
Always heard the nightmare stories of being stuck in Florida with no outbound freight, but never experienced that. The company used one particular broker and stuck with that one because the trucks were never stuck in Florida or California.
Maybe running load boards are different; never had to deal with that.

 

If I lived in Fl I’d buy a reefer over a van. Produce is gonna be your best outbound freight meaning best paying.

I’ve got a van and getting IN to Florida is never a problem.

 

That's right and sometimes there's dry loads available out of Florida such as "juicy-juice." So, pulling a reefer can get a dry load also.

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You might do better because of your location with a reefer, but as far as I know the insurance is more expensive. There are more claims. There are more situations where you have a rejected load that you have to wait to see what's going to happen. Some products are exempt that you can't go after the Brokers Bond. Sometimes there are a long long long long long wait times...

If you buy a reefer it should be new or next to New because if that engine craps out on you it's a big load of stuff you're in trouble... I sure that the reefer will cost more than a van...

You get the idea.

 

Insurance is not very much for the reefer breakdown. Most claims/rejections come from the driver not paying attention/ignoring instructions.

 

I would do reefer in that area. How far do you plan on running? I know a guy that moved to the Tampa area that used to haul flat bed and parked it for a reefer