Local Rates

The owner of say a crane (but any other specialized equipment as well), will typically charge approximately 1% of the cost of the crane per hour, and that would include the operator's time, but may or may not include "delivery and setup".

So if your Sprinter vehicle costs $60k new, it would not be unreasonable to charge $600 per hour, to cover driver, depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc. You could operate in 1/2 hour increments and set a 1 hour minimum perhaps. While a trip across town for $600 may seem high, it's probably reasonable considering your billing costs, empty drive time and mileage, as well as all the rest of it. It needs to be understood that hot-shot type delivery services are specialized and they aren't going 10 hours a day, 5 days a week on the clock, on some sort of routine schedule, they sit idle much of the time as that is part of that type of delivery business, and as such you have to command a higher rate to remain available to provide that level of service.

What would it cost a business to buy a vehicle that would work, insure and maintain it, keep a qualified driver on the payroll to run it .... maybe 3 times a month? $1,800 is cheap compared to the alternative.

 

$60 hour barely covers the wages and insurance, let alone the vehicle costs and all the other costs that are involved for the operator. Maybe I'm not understanding the service provided. $60 hour .. how many hours do you think you can bill in a day or week? Can you pay the fuel, insurance and note and live on whatever is left with the hours you can bill consistently?

 

I have a 4900 IH with 8000 pound auto crane welder air compressor with hand and special tools on it that no job is too much for it no shop needed I was getting 60 for me and the truck, it was hard pressed to pay out. I have since went to 80 an hour with a four hour minimum, yes I lost some business but there seems to be more money in the account I'm with texan on this deal I wouldn't go under 60 and I would have a minmun on hrs. There been lots of times I wish we had an expidite or hotshot around here to run to kenworth or freightliner and ick up parts while I'm tearing down and cleaning up getting ready to go back togather. I can't keep a hand insurance rig for once a week, if the rig I'm working on is an otr well nuff said its driver has no way of making the four hour round trip drive to little rock.