Looking at a car hauler job

...not worth it in my opinion ...I have been in car hauling since 2011 ...I did quit in May , had 4 trucks - now flats and step deck work ....regrett reg that I didn't switch earlier
...I stopped seeing any pros in car hauling ... maybe for the driver on dedicated route with minimum stops , just think how many times you have to go up and down , load cars 3 inches between each other , finding them at auctions etc ...my drivers were making literally $1 per mile , flat bed or step deck driver does almost same with less work involved and headache

 

Good experienced car hauler can do 30% easily ...it all depends how good paying loads you get

 

Depends on what the 25% is of. If it’s good paying freight and it’s a real 25%. $100,000 a year is possible. For a stinger driver.

 

There is a huge range from one side of the spectrum to the other in carhaul. Some haul one car pickup and delivery from 8 or 9 locations and others haul full loads from one pickup to one or two drops. I would ask the owner what type of freight he hauls and what his trucks currently gross a week. A new carhauler will not be able to gross what an experienced carhauler can. How quickly you pick it up can not accurately be predicted. It might be a couple weeks and it might be never. There is still really good money in car hauling, but maybe not for everyone. I am 7 years in to car-hauling and I have no plans to get out. I don’t do any work unless I like it and it pays well. My carhauling gig does both for me, but not all carhauling gigs would.

 

I've had conversations with a good amount of flat and step deck companies lately because I thought I wanted a change of scenery. None of them even comes close to what I make hauling cars and that's not even counting my benefits. And as far as climbing on and off of a car carrier...I'd rather do that than tarp a 13'6" flat load any day!!

 

I hate to tarp even 11ft load - that's why Conestoga been invented - no more tarping , I get mine in February

 

A buddy of mine who worked at Frito-Lay and Allied with me is an owner op with Landstar pulling a drop deck. He is a real go getter, not your average owner op. His wife is a former flatbed dispatcher and she dispatches for him. They now have enough broker contacts that most of his loads never hit the board as the brokers usually call her to request him. He grosses about what I do or more many weeks, but he hauls some oversized loads and tarps some ugly freight. If he pulls his equipment tarp out it is for $500 or it doesn’t come out. He has had some shippers try to play the no tarp load rate con and then think they will change it to tarp for $50 and he laughs at them. $500 or he leaves, they usually pay it now because they may not get another truck for a while. He is also gone usually all week and not home 5-7 nights like me. If I couldn’t haul cars I would do what he is doing, but I wouldn’t voluntarily stop hauling cars to do it. Also the spot market freight is the highest it has been in years so it could go back down sometime. People that can’t make money in trucking right now, need to find a different career because if they can’t make it now they never will make it.

 

I've talked with a lot of guys from LS and Mercer. Some of there settlement sheets make me want to buy a truck for sure. Some I've seen I wonder how they survive!!! I guess beanie weanies and Ramon!!! There is definitely money to make as an O/O in flat or step. As far as company goes I just don't see where flat pays as well as cars. Maybe I'm not talking to the right people! Lol!