Hauling Recreational Vehicles

Back hauls make a huge difference. If you'e still kicking the idea around I have a trailer for campers(hauls up to 4) down in the classified section it was still working September 2017.

 

Backhauls make it or break it .

 

I fell on some hard times in the late 80's early 90's, just about lost everything but my diesel pickup, saw this and thought what the hell, did I make money? YES, in fact I made enough that within 5 years I bought out the company I worked for, Peterson Transport out of Boise Idaho, and that allowed me to get back into big trucks, and that is another story.

However, a couple of things to consider, it was the 80's/90's at that time DOT didn't have a clue about what all the people "on vacation" were doing, the log book was an afterthought, it got abused, and I lived like an animal, eating while I was driving, showering when I had time, sleeping cramped up in the back seat of a pickup,,,NOT FUN!

I had a couple of haul and tows built along with some lowboy trailers, and for a number of years made a killing, BUT at some point the manufactures/brokers decided that they shouldn't pay you full price to haul two at a time, in other words, if the first unit paid 1.00 pm mile to haul with a pickup they wanted you to haul the second one for .75 pm, that is the reason that you don't see a lot of guys rushing out to build haul and tows or as the gentlemen said in his post above, convert their equipment to haul trailers.

I was straight up when I told guys, if you have a house payment, a truck payment, and a family at home, this job is NOT for you, not that many make a career out of and I consider myself VERY fortunate to be able to have done as well as I did.

About 5 years after buying Peterson out, I got back into big trucks, found all of 70+ of my pickup drivers jobs with a competitor and never looked back, I would think in this day and age, it would be a tough gig. JMHO

 

For most guys I would not recommend trying something like this, but then again most guys aren't cut out for long haul trucking period. You have to really be adventurous, hate your normal job, and not mind living like a piker. Most guys would be far better off with a local M-F W-2 job that pays $50-60k/yr, maybe a little better sometimes, and just have to put up with being told what to do all the time and suffer the boredom of doing the same stuff over and over. It's the trade off you make for the stability of a steady paycheck.

But if you've decided the normal stuff ain't your bag anyway (wife, kids, mortgage, etc), then maybe a job like this offers freedom you wont get from a company job. That appears to be it's main selling point.

 

Hey flatbedcarrier, I have been researching hauling with a dully and hot shot trailer. im retiring after 20 years tractor trailer driving. I was curious about the rv hauling. I was wondering if a back haul could come from a load of cars, returning to a nearby city. Being new I don't know all the possibilities but I heard Central Dispatch had plenty of freight for hot shot trailers.

 

Backhauls are available through Central Dispatch . Some pay ok - most don't . Always , always , always negotiate it higher . Duallys wear out MUCH faster than a single screw tractor . And lets not forget the danger of the reduced braking a dually has with a three vehicle backhaul . SCARY !!

 

Central dispatch is a vehicle load board. It works in a pinch. We typically use it as a last ditch effort to fill empty deck space. Sometimes you can find a few decent paying vehicles on there but most of whats on there doesn't pay very good.

My advice would be to become a Independent and set you’re trailer up to haul freight, vehicles. Rv trailers and even boats. You want to keep as many options open as possible when it comes to what you can haul.