Why does Hot Shotting exist?

I don't think going smaller is a smart move. I'd elaborate on it but I'm swamped with work right now. I'll try to get back on here later.

 

The thought would be trying to do part time loads, so local and small. I'm near Oxnard/Ventura/Camarillo which has a large Ag market... maybe there's some local hauling to be done there.

There's a guy one one of the Duramax forum's that has logged over 700k miles on his Duramax doing hauling with a single car bumper pull trailer. That plus some of the comments here got me thinkin.

Also, I'm in Southern California currently and another thought came up today - someone mentioned they were buying cars up here and selling them down in Mexico because of the demand. I wonder if I could make some weekend cash doing runs down there and offloading a car. It's a 360 mile round trip for me, so if I can sell a car for $1,000 profit that would be a $2-3/mile trip. I know nothing more of the logistics involved in that whole idea though.

 

You can do whatever you want, just make sure its profitable. Get an insurance quote first.

 

This is exactly how I started. Mainly because I didn't know anything about hot shot (or any kind of) trucking, and I didn't have money to go buy a truck/trailer. I had an '02 F350, and I bought the stoutest trailer I could haul with it. I did well, but when business slowed up I found that I needed more payload capacity. I did, however, manage to do some good business and have gotten the bigger truck. Now I need to get a bigger trailer.

If I had the budget (and the place to park the trailer) what I'd go for is an F450 diesel extended cab, dual rear wheels, long bed (or you can substitute the Mopar equivalent if you lean that way) and at least a 30 foot aluminum trailer with air ride, a moveable dovetail and a tarp system.

 

It exists mainly to piss me off.

 

I don't have the bigger is better mentality but I've always told my friends who buy bumper pulls or fifth wheels to go one size bigger than you think you'll need. If you start small you will soon find that you don't have enough room or you'll see a load tell yourself "if only I had a larger trailer". Not to mention if your business takes off quickly you'll have the headache of selling or trading that small trailer. But you could always have both. Each one has there own application

 

Its pretty simple really someone out there was a really good shot so they called them "Hot shot"

 

In my world I call Hot Shot Hurry up and wait.