Is it a good idea to buy newest 5308 for 135k usd？

Tru Dat.

 

This is a popular story in Canada right now. Someone that has zero experience in car haul buying a high mount and opening up shop.
The dealerships won’t touch them because they have no history , so they run to the auctions or haul for super cheap for a “ friend” who has a buy here pay here lot.
Then they realize that insurance companies in Canada won’t insure a car hauler unless there’s minimum 2 year’s history. So they run around with minimum liability hoping nothing will happen. I mean this is the dream right?! Last week you were working for a company making $1.60 a mile , buy a car hauler and now you can make $2.50 a mile. You’re rich now. You’ve got 7 cars on your trailer making the big bucks…. Till you get a few rock chips or a blown out window. That’s fine. You can’t use insurance so just pay it on your credit card and live to haul another day.

But now your credit cards getting maxed. You still don’t have a regular customer you gotta do something. Why not just haul for a bit cheaper to attract more customers. That should solve all your problems right?

seen this hundreds of times already. The highway and classified ads are full of these folks. End of the day they go back to hauling super b’s and we re left with garbage rate’s nobody can sustain.

long story less long.. there’s more to this than buying a wagon and going truckin.

 

[QUOTE

there’s more to this than buying a wagon and going truckin.[/QUOTE]

This probably is the most important part of this thread that many people refuse to listen to. I almost refused to listen to this statement myself when I thought I would buy a carhauler and learn how to haul cars later. Boy am I glad I finally listened and did it in the correct order.

 

Wasn’t there a certain BIG company that destroyed the car haul rates in Canada ?? They convinced owner ops to haul cheap for them because it paid more than general freight but the expenses are higher and fuel economy worse..

 

I'm not familiar with the laws in the Canada, but here in the states the highmount trailers are considered flatbeds. Some states let the guys slide and give them carhauler overhangs, but there are others that enforce the zero-overhang on 53' trailers. I'd make dang sure what the laws where up there before you drop a hunk of change.

That and I'm largely of the same mind as @Banker , this is a tough business to learn, and can be very expensive as an O/O.

 

I’m willing to bet a month’s salary the name of your “ Big Company “. But ask yourself this.. if it’s such a lucrative opportunity, why are they looking for brand new owner operators with ZERO experience? Car hauling ESPECIALLY in Canada is very reputation based.

Either way you’ve be cautioned by veterans a few times now but the choice is yours. As @Magoo1968 said that “ big company “ got big by cutting rates and living off the backs of new employees like yourself.

no

 

Kind of sounds like he has his mind made up already. Can't say he wasn't warned.

 

That’s a lot of money driver good luck i wish you the best

 

Let me understand this correctly. You admit that you do not know much about an industry segment and have no experience in said segment, and you are happy to risk up to half a million CAD to cut your teeth on the learning curve. A learning curve that has been euphemistically described as perilously steep.
You have big cajones and bigger pockets than me man, and I admire you for it.
I respect that tarping is onerous, but I would posit that loading cars (in the winter months especially) is pretty sucky too. I have done the latter, and a little of the former, so take my advice with a grain of salt. If the discomfort of tarping is what is driving you away from flatbedding, please know that the freight loading experience is likely not much different and the pay/risk is decidedly worse in the car hauling segment.