Unconventional Trucking Gigs

France uses them for both warfare and things closer to peace-keeping.

 

Flexibility is what escapes most of us doing OTR, and it’s what those of us who have been out here a long time want. The issues are the costs associated with your truck sitting. Personally, I would love to run three weeks to a month and then have about 10 days off. The odds of ever finding that are extremely low. Unless I wanted to work with some temp agency running junk equipment with no benefits.

OP, if you want true flexibility and an adventurous type trucking career, You’re gonna have to give up some things to achieve that.

 

@Lexi13 if you are still here and haven't been run off yet, you may find the ability to pick and choose as you please doing driveaway work. Most, but not all, driveaway companies hire exclusively contractors that get to pick their availability and runs. This isn't always great money, can be sometimes, but it does give you the flexibility you desire and each trip is in a different vehicle, so you don't get bored.

When I sold my fleet I did driveaway for a few of the big names for a while before my consulting firm took off and I landed a sweet gig with a new truck dealer group where I work when I want to. It can be done, although a lot of the driveaway companies will want you to get experience first, and almost all will require you to not have the automatic only transmission restriction on your CDL as that severely limits what trucks they can assign you to transport.

Google driveaway jobs, and you will find some companies like Horizon and Star Fleet will hire you without a CDL to transport small vehicles and some RVs. You will also find some good CDL driveaway companies that will hire you with a CDL B, but prefer an A. To be of most value to a driveaway company you should have all the endorsements including passenger as many new and used buses get moved this way.

I can personally recommend the following as I have contracted with them, or know a personal friend that has:

Bennett Truck Transport - very easy to work with and you select your own loads on an online load board
Truck Movers - easy, but no online load board so you have to call dispatch and they will try to force you into taking loads when you don't want to
J&J Driveaway - contract, freedom to pick and choose but they usually want class A and experience
RNH (Ron Hall) - does garbage trucks and buses to/from the Mexican border and new tow trucks out of TN and PA to all 48 states
Lonestar driveaway - our dealership uses them for overflow work, moving tow trucks, but they move just about anything

To make them most money with driveaway you will want you own transportation to/from the assignments. Most contractors get a car that can be flat towed, like behind an RV, and tow it behind the trucks they deliver then drive to the next gig or wherever they want to go.

Good luck, maybe try out non-cdl driveaway before you commit to see if you like it. It will give you a taste of the trucking world without the expense of CDL school.

 

The Vietnamese fought the French Foreign Legion and kicked their arses!
57 days in 1954:
The 57-day battle was a complete rout for the French army, which lost more than 2,200 soldiers killed in action, and almost 11,000 more who were captured, including more than 5,100 who were wounded. Only about 3,300 of the French prisoners of war made it home. Thousands died in captivity as the French negotiated its exit from Indochina during the 1954 Geneva Conference.
~
USA moved in after the French were routed and stayed from 1955 - 1975

 

french foreign legionnaires in vietnamese

 

Yes, the CDL is backward compatible so your A will allow you to drive class B and C vehicles, except for buses. To get the Passenger endorsement you will need to do a passenger vehicle (bus) pre-trip, skills and road test. If you seriously want to be successful in driveaway the P endorsement is critical, as is tank. Hazmat can be helpful but isn't always necessary.

As for working fir a traditional company for a few months to gain expierence, don't worry about using them as they will be using you too! Starter companies are just that, a place to gain some expierence while your confidence grows and your license ages so better companies are willing to take a risk on you.

 

The issue with driveway, is most of them aren’t really hiring right now. I mean, look at the overall industry and the trucking industry. In general people aren’t ordering as many new trucks as they were a few years ago. It’ll come back around but right now it’s not, showing a lot of opportunity.

 

All companies pay for transportation to the company for orientation, plus meals & lodging.