Question about getting my own authority

I started out hauling furniture for 3 years but have since switched to hauling containers from the port in Savannah. So I don’t know a ton about how it all works on the business side.

Overall I like the company I’m leased on with, it pays well, I’m home most nights, the owners are decent people, and there is no shortage of work.

However, they have much more intense guidelines for being dot compliant than I’ve had in the past and it’s driving me nuts.

I’m thinking about getting my own authority. ideally I would like to hire my current carrier to dispatch for me. But I’m not sure if this is at all feasible.

i know they get the jobs from a broker, so I’m not sure if they can send me loads if I have my own authority.

and if they can’t how do I go about getting loads for myself? I would like to keep hauling containers regionally as I have been.

Any guidance is appreciated.

 

Thanks. I guess I’ll need to look into insurance more and find out the cost there. But honestly I’m paying more than that a month for just my primary liability through my current carrier.

thanks again

 

I pay about 450 every week.

 

I pay 450 every week, so roughly 1800 a month

 

they require a dot inspection every month.

last week they removed my ability to use personal conveyance at all. I’m not sure if this was just me or the whole company because they didn’t actually communicate that they were doing this. The kt elog app just notified me that I didn’t have access to it.

- admittedly I was using pc incorrect. I thought if you weren’t advancing a load you could use it to get home. Most days I wouldn’t use it but there were a few days that went awry and I thought it was ok so I did.
- my previous company gave you points if you did things wrong with the elog and you might have to retrain if you got too many points,
- I get they have to follow the law but they should at a minimum be communicating these things.

they’ve also been pushing the use of a dash cam. I don’t mind using one in case of an accident but they want me to use the kt dash cam which gives them total access to the feed at all times.

It’s not in my lease I have to use the camera so I initially told them no. Now 2 months later they are saying the insurance is requiring the use of this camera.

I don’t like it because it also records audio which means any private conversation that I have while my truck is on could be overheard by anyone at my carrier or the insurance company.