getting into hotshot trucking any tips?

I am in the similar basket as haulinjack... From Pittsburgh Pa, have own authority, Cdl w/hazmat etc...the truck is 18' box van. (pic on profile) it used to be a mobile flooring showroom, but has been sitting, so we decided to see if we can make some money with it... Here's my question, for all you lovely, helpful drivers... We are looking to, maybe, do the stuff no one else wants, however, I have no idea where to begin. Would load boards benefit us? I looked around on some but they seem to be for mostly all you big gals/guys. . Is Pittsburgh even a good place for this kind of venture? We really don't want to work for someone else. When I started my pet transporting in 2005, I utilized UShip, and did pretty well for starting out with that, but I do not think UShip is a good place to be for something like this.

 

hpefulone - What is it that you think no one else wants? FWIW, it if will fit on my trailer, and the price is right, I will take it.

If you are referring to "cheap" freight, forget it. You won't make any money at it. First, you have to know your Operating Costs. If your OC are 80 cents a mile, then running freight at 79 cents a mile means you're losing money. Granted, sometimes you have to, if you want to get out of a "dead" area but don't make a habit of it. You'll sink the ship quickly.

Haven't messed with uShip. We don't have the time to wait on bids. Ninety percent of the time, my wheels are turning. This also means that I don't have time to look for loads myself. My dispatcher does that. For example, I picked up load in Fredericksbug VA going to Cabot AR then drove 1.5 hrs to Winchester VA to pickup a load going to Hot Springs AR. Both were picked up on Monday. Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will deliver both by 1pm (Lord willing). I notified my dispatcher in route today and he's looking for a load for me. Hopefully one will be ready when I off load.

Much Success!
Bill

 

What's wrong with the disc brakes? Anyone?

 

They last to long. These guys rather take the hubs off twice
a year or more with drum electric ones. 500,000 on trailer and I didn't replace no pads till after 380,000 and that was cause a cracked rotor.
The problem with them is using the wrong controler and you have to set tehm different depending on load weight and conditions.

 

Ahhhh.

You know, I'm installing a controller in my old (81) pickup, and I got a Kelsey Hayes hydraulic controlled one NOS, off Ebay. I can't find a better controller for a small travel trailer. Just love them.

As for braking power, I dunno what brakes are on my friend's gooseneck ( duals, tandem axle, 30+ feet, 102 wide), but I could not get it to brake worth spit. Not even straight 12V to the brakes got me more than a mild response. And no, they didn't grind. I'm big on having as much trailer brakes as you can get - not maximum braking, but as much capacity as possible.

 

Silverado- Maybe I'm wrong, but from my understanding, "what no one wants" is the freight that are on the back roads, off the main beaten paths, so to speak...I have absolutely no idea how much rates are or what prices are.....I do know that we need to be at the $3.00 or more a mile. That covers the costs of taxes, insurance, tags, etc...it would be a small profit, but we would not be losing money.
Uship was pretty good with me for what I was trying to do, dogs/cats...but it is not something I would use or recommend for something like this. It is a lot of wasting time waiting.
How does one go about getting a dispatcher? That seems to be what we need, esp. for the returning trips.
Good luck with your trips...I hope your dispatcher comes through for you...Be safe and thank you for the information

 

$3 a mile, not in that truck. You are looking at closer to half on average. If your insurance, tags and everything else exceeds your fuel costs, then you have a problem. Right now fuel is the biggest expense by far. but with that said, if you do your business right (planning and accounting), you can reduce your tax liability a lot.

As for Uship, forget that, it is not the place for serious money.

 

More like $1.00-20 pm in that truck.

 

The reason I don't like the disc brakes are because I you have to pull the tires and wheels off to accurately see how much pad is left. I run a Kirt controller and keep it adjusted according to each individual load. With that being said just put 2nd set of pads in 60k miles. The other trailer I run is an old drum system and just put first set of brakes on it and has about 200k miles.

 

Looking for a good company that does hot shot loads in Texas.
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