Haul CARS!!!!

I worked as a Yardy (or Lumper in trucking terms) for a car hauling company.

It WAS really cool to play with late modle Lexus, G35's (I still want one) Acura's and other odds and ends.

But I gotta tell you, setting up your ramps propper is probably 20 times more complicated than CDL school. And very few companies are willing to risk their merchandise on your learning curve. You have to know 8 different ways to tie down a car (thank god for standarized j/s hooks) and you have to rachet them bad boys down HARD (because suspension travel on each car can be as much as a FOOT) and at the end of the day you've got to get that whole rig under 13'6". Which seems #### near impossible when you've got a Nissan Pathfinder on your headrack, sinched down to the frame rails, and the ramp dipped so low that you can barely see out the front window.

I've got some stories about THAT business. hahah.

Like the underpowered, broken down Corolla that couldn't make it up the ramps without stalling. Our hero (the truck driver) decided to give it a running start from halfway up the block. I was seriously expecting a flip of A-Team proportions. But the #### thing stalled about half way up, and half on and half off the rack.

The rig driver gets out (of the Corolla) and starts pushing the car like, well like you'd push a broken down car. Except he's facing up "hill", he's already about 12 feet up, and he's straddling the hole between the decks. (about 3 feet across). There's just too many ways this could go horribly, horribly wrong. So I tell him to stop, And get his fool ### down before he gets killed.

After about a minute of looking at the situation I have an idea, "Eric, the whole #### truck is one giant hydralic erector set. Why the $^% are we pushing the car UP?" Smarter monkees! So with in minutes I'm in the corrolla with my foot on the brakes as the entire world around me begins to resemble the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Well except for the whole pointing DOWN thing. It's very weird being in a car, sitting still and slowy being tipped nose first into the belly of a high rail. I let the brakes go, the car rolls forward the remaining 4 feet. Locked, dropped, and strapped.

Bet the new owner of that car never had a clue.

 

hey,

I've read so many of these forums I finally had some downtime and joined up. I have read through this message thread and learned a lot and laughed some too. I have some questions though and I figure i might as well shoot them out here.

I have been talking to car haulers out on the road and they seem pretty happy. I'm thinking about where to go when I pay my truck off ( in 9months)and have four years driving OTR no accidents, incidents and so on. I have been doing pretty well with running reefer but would like to get some more outta my truck. Car hauling is something I am very interested in. I have been noticing alot of wally-mo or sun valley 6 car trailers on sleeper. So here are my bottom line questions

1. can you get on with a tractor to an existing company ( if yes who?) or if you have to have a trailer is that possible?

2. what is the best set up to use with a standard tractor. I have seen 6 car kaufman trailers but they seem lightweight. I have seen the wedge trailers as well which seem like they would minimize risk of damaging the vehicles but with only four car capacity could you even make it with one of them?

3. Basically if you invest in the equipment can you get on with someone who will keep you busy and paid?

That studio sleeper setup ( very nice BTW I can almost squint and picture my columbia there) is what I have been seeing but the idea of driving and chasing loads is unfamiliar and seems like a big risk. I.e. I know I can drive and operate/ maintain the truck, have a good mechanic and support.

Anyway any advice is appreciated ( or redirection to info or company)

Thanks for your time and the thread, I have been talking to all the car haulers I can but it's hard to catchem when everybody has time and alot of them, though they have it figured don't nessasarily have the time to lay it all out.

 

Wouldn't waste my time with a Kaufman, really limited with what will fit in the belly. Company I drove for had some as well as better equipment & some 4 car wedges & we considered the Kaufmans as 4 car haulers with 6 car potential if the load wasn't all trucks, SUV's or mini-vans.

If you get into the auction/used car side of it with a 4 or 6 car hauler you will find a lot of the time the 10 car haulers will get the load because they can cut the per vehicle rate lower than you & they will still make more money due to volume.

 

Hey,

thanks for replying. That was my impression of the kaufman. The price seemed a little too good to be true.

So do you just show up at the auctions? that seems pretty unorganized. I guess I was curious about getting dispatched and working as a contractor if I invested in something like a Sun Valley trailer, or wally-mo 6 car attached to my existing truck. Any idea are appreciated and thanks again for the response

 

The best way to learn about it would be to go the auctions in your area,...There are three of them. And talk to the drivers and company owners,...Then go from there,....

 

Old carhauler joke:

One snowy night a carhauler is rolling down a stretch of 2 lane highway when suddenly both headlights go out *poof*. He tries everything but no joy and the snow's getting heavier by the minute. There's a truckstop a few miles down the road but how does he see to get there? While scratching his head he looks up and has an idea. "Dang, I've got that car up front an just maybe...." So he climbs up, pulls the headlights on in the car and with a little jiggery angles the beams so they hit the road ahead of him. Smiling at his ingenuity he starts slowly down the highway.

After a couple of miles he sees another vehicle coming towards him. Suddenly the oncoming vehicle starts swerving and sails off into the ditch. Hauler stops and climbs down into the ditch. It's an old pickup driven by an oldtimer. He gets the old guy back up to the road and asks, "Are you ok? What happened to you?" Old guy stares at the hauler and says "Sonny, I saw you comin' an figured if you was only half as wide as yer headlights was tall there wasn't no room on the road fer me!!!".

 

This is good advice from walleye, show up while the auction is going on & talk to the drivers out in the transport lot, then head to the cafeteria where you will find more drivers & some dealers hanging out. Most if not all auctions won't let you out onto the bidding floor/area.

Grab a soda or coffee, hang out, listen in & chat up a few people.

Only did it as a company driver myself so we had our people out at the auctions here in Houston that sat in our booth on the floor & talked with the dealers. We had our set dealers we hauled everything for & other dealers would walk from booth to booth getting quotes.

At the out of town auctions we went specifically after units our regular dealers sent us after. We hauled a lot out of Louisiana & Mississippi for Carmax & they paid decent rates for it. So we would always be looking for units going out of the Houston auctions headed that way.

Rental car companies are always in need of haulers to shuttle loads of cars around for them so that might be an avenue to check.