Does anyone on here do hotshot trucking?

[Robobrainiac]

I am looking for advice from anyone who does hotshot trucking.

Story:
My father in law is a self operated CDL refrigerator semi driver.
Mother in law is his dispatcher.
They run under another companies authority. That way they have access to really good paying runs.
Father in law drove for GM for 20 years before finally giving in and becoming his own "boss". He has now been operating for 2 years and makes very good money.
The "authority" has informed my father in law multiple times with "if you know anyone who wants to hotshot we need drivers" so he has told me about the multitude of finances to be had. My mother in law has shown me some good loads avaliable on the "board" and it seems to pay well.

My goal:
My wife owns her own business. It is a cleaning company. She is currently residential and commercial. She is shifting to commercial only. She makes good money. I work as an auto mechanic and I am tired of the warranty bull crap and electric car future. I don't want to work on cars privately. I don't have enough patience for the ignorance of people. My wife and I are going to be working together soon 3 to 4 days cleaning and our income will be the same as it is currently with me working 5 days a week. Our thought process is that we coulda single 2 or 3 day run together per week and make extra money.

My current setup. I have available to me a 20ft 102" deckover gooseneck. Tandem single wheel. A 12ft single axle flat trailer. A 2 horse bumper pull trailer. 2 3rd gen cummins 2500.

Can we make money with this? Do I need to look into larger trailers or wedge car haulers? I plan to get my CDL. Does anyone have any advice for this kind of thing?

 

[Admin]

 

[NTCPrezJB]

I am looking for advice from anyone who does hotshot trucking.

Story:
My father in law is a self operated CDL refrigerator semi driver.
Mother in law is his dispatcher.
They run under another companies authority. That way they have access to really good paying runs.
Father in law drove for GM for 20 years before finally giving in and becoming his own "boss". He has now been operating for 2 years and makes very good money.
The "authority" has informed my father in law multiple times with "if you know anyone who wants to hotshot we need drivers" so he has told me about the multitude of finances to be had. My mother in law has shown me some good loads avaliable on the "board" and it seems to pay well.

My goal:
My wife owns her own business. It is a cleaning company. She is currently residential and commercial. She is shifting to commercial only. She makes good money. I work as an auto mechanic and I am tired of the warranty bull crap and electric car future. I don't want to work on cars privately. I don't have enough patience for the ignorance of people. My wife and I are going to be working together soon 3 to 4 days cleaning and our income will be the same as it is currently with me working 5 days a week. Our thought process is that we coulda single 2 or 3 day run together per week and make extra money.

My current setup. I have available to me a 20ft 102" deckover gooseneck. Tandem single wheel. A 12ft single axle flat trailer. A 2 horse bumper pull trailer. 2 3rd gen cummins 2500.

Can we make money with this? Do I need to look into larger trailers or wedge car haulers? I plan to get my CDL. Does anyone have any advice for this kind of thing?

You can absolutely make money in “trucking”.

 

[Rdrcr]

I call myself a 'HotShot' when I'm driving my truck. Does that count?

Mike

 

[Mopower58]

I Hot Shotted for 3 years under someone else's authority. It started off good but then started a slow decline. I had to pay my own truck insurance according to the authorities average. Had to pay my own health insurance. Any truck under a 2 1/2 ton,i.e. 1 ton pickup depreciates extremely fast due to miles. I left a dealership as a Driveability/ diesel technician. I got to see a lot of the US I would have never seen otherwise. I was burned out on dealership politics not the mechanic work. I opened my own shop after Hot Shotting specializing in Ford and Dodge diesels. I enjoyed being home every night among other things. I was able to do well for a little over 15 years until my stroke in July of 15. Hot Shotting made me appreciate home and not having to travel.

 

[NTCPrezJB]

Know your costs and the minimum you’re willing to earn. Don’t take loads that don’t cover your costs plus that minimum earnings. The farther a load takes you from home the more it needs to pay when you’re doing it part time.

 

[Robobrainiac]

You can absolutely make money in “trucking”.

That seems to be a common statement currently. I am mainly concerned if I can make money with my current available resources or if I need to consider making an investment into trailers.

 

[Robobrainiac]

Know your costs and the minimum you’re willing to earn. Don’t take loads that don’t cover your costs plus that minimum earnings. The farther a load takes you from home the more it needs to pay when you’re doing it part time.

My understanding from what I have been told my mother in law is such a great dispatcher for my father in law she receives calls from brokers requesting them and the "authority" has offered my mother in law a job but required her to be present at the office at least twice the week. She turned it down to be able to be at home or on the run with my father in law. She seems to know how to negotiate and make good money from runs.

 

[Robobrainiac]

I Hot Shotted for 3 years under someone else's authority. It started off good but then started a slow decline. I had to pay my own truck insurance according to the authorities average. Had to pay my own health insurance. Any truck under a 2 1/2 ton,i.e. 1 ton pickup depreciates extremely fast due to miles. I left a dealership as a Driveability/ diesel technician. I got to see a lot of the US I would have never seen otherwise. I was burned out on dealership politics not the mechanic work. I opened my own shop after Hot Shotting specializing in Ford and Dodge diesels. I enjoyed being home every night among other things. I was able to do well for a little over 15 years until my stroke in July of 15. Hot Shotting made me appreciate home and not having to travel.

I could talk for hours how much I despise working on cars now. I have worked for 14 years as a mechanic now and almost 8 of those are at the dealership I am currently at. I appreciate my dealership but I hate GM and aftermarket warranty companies. I am tired of getting my hours taken from me and I'm tired of others telling me how to do my job.
My wife and I are looking forward to being able to be home with each other more. I work 730 to 530 Monday thru Friday. My wife works approximately 9am to 3pm Tuesday thru Thursday and we currently work together approximately 4 hours including drive time on Sunday. If I can work full time with my wife our income will remain the same and we will increase our home time extensively.

 

[HondaTech]

I know what you feelin boss, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be wrenchin myself. Just not sure what direction I'll be going if I move on. But driving for a living sounds like a decent idea.

 

[Mopower58]

I could talk for hours how much I despise working on cars now. I have worked for 14 years as a mechanic now and almost 8 of those are at the dealership I am currently at. I appreciate my dealership but I hate GM and aftermarket warranty companies. I am tired of getting my hours taken from me and I'm tired of others telling me how to do my job.
My wife and I are looking forward to being able to be home with each other more. I work 730 to 530 Monday thru Friday. My wife works approximately 9am to 3pm Tuesday thru Thursday and we currently work together approximately 4 hours including drive time on Sunday. If I can work full time with my wife our income will remain the same and we will increase our home time extensively.

Hopefully y'all can make it work. Some people are just made for being on the road. I am grateful for my time doing it but I put 500,000 miles on 2 different trucks in 3 years. I could only legally haul 20,000 lbs. A full size 18 wheeler can haul 40,000 lbs so make sure you have customers that produce loads that will accommodate your load capacity. You will also need straps,chains and binders,and elastic straps to secure tarps,depending on loads. Tarps are another, if you buy tarps don't buy cheap, they take a lot of abuse,especially if they happen to become loose. Keep good tires on your trailer. I had a 50 foot 3 axle, single wheel trailer with a dove tail. 3 axle trailers are hard on tires, especially when turning. I started out with a 97 Ram with a Cummins 5 speed. Every 20,000 miles 5 th gear would back off of the shaft and I would be limited to 1-4th gear,it was tagged for 36,000 lbs. the empty truck,trailer and equipment weighed 17,000 lbs. I went to a crew cab IH with a DT 466, 7 speed with air brakes and tagged for 42,000 lbs. Make sure to do your best to get a backhaul. Running empty is a money eater.

 

[Mopower58]

The worst load I ever had was a load of spas that had to be tarped. I hauled them from Miami to Phoenix with multiple drops in Phoenix. The best was 3 new Ford Club wagons from Jackson to Atlanta. They paid 3.00 a mile each in 2000.

 

[Robobrainiac]

How does the weight rating work for your rig setup? As an example :

Do you use the trucks tow rating plus the trailer tow rating and that is your max?

Or is your max based on your class and you could pull more weight than rated on your rig as long as you are under your class rating?

Lastly, I cannot find a placard detailing weight/load/max on my gooseneck trailer, the truck gooseneck hitch, or the truck bumper hitch. Does this matter?

 

[Mopower58]

How does the weight rating work for your rig setup? As an example :

Do you use the trucks tow rating plus the trailer tow rating and that is your max?

Or is your max based on your class and you could pull more weight than rated on your rig as long as you are under your class rating?

Lastly, I cannot find a placard detailing weight/load/max on my gooseneck trailer, the truck gooseneck hitch, or the truck bumper hitch. Does this matter?

In Mississippi you buy a Tag for the total gross weight of truck,trailer and payload you plan on carrying. I mounted this tag to the front tag holder of the truck. That is everything,driver,tarps, chains,binders,truck trailer,payload. The GVWR for the truck should be on the decal of the truck when you open the drivers' door,it also contains tire size,pressures,truck serial number,paint code,etc. The trailer rating will be on the data plate of the trailer that contains serial number,length,etc.That plate is normally on the drivers' side of the neck part of the gooseneck. After I got my truck and trailer setup, I went to the local truck stop and weighed the whole rig to determine how much payload I could haul and still be under 36,000 lbs. On my 97 Ram dually I had a gooseneck ball, 2 5/16" welded to a piece of channel that was welded across both frame rails. No weight rating as it was an aftermarket install by a local welder. On the IH I went with a fifth wheel on the truck and had a fifth wheel attachment welded to the trailer to replace the ball. I was inspected several times by the DOT and the trailer connection or GVWR of truck or trailer was ever inspected.

 

[HondaRed16]

I'll just throw my .02 if I may; I'd personally go directly to your local DOT and ask them specifically, here in AZ as Mopower58 has said you have to have all that, as well as your DOT & commerce numbers on the side of your vehicle. You also have to have the correct CDL and abide by the same rules, regulations and laws as the full size semi's, including the electronic log/data logger (how many hours you can drive, how often you have to take breaks, your speed is recorded, etc.).
So many think that because it's a pickup truck, they're not covered by the same laws or simply just don't know. Here, they stop & inspect them all the time, it is sometimes financially devastating, not to mention some get totally shut down on the side of the road, they don't tend to give too many breaks because "you didn't know the law", it's really not any different than going to CDL driving school, meaning that if you've never operated a semi you don't simply get in one and take off, you go to school and learn all of it.

In regards to some of your weight questions: you can be fined if the you exceed data plate, but the cops often don't look at that as much they calculate by; how many axles, tires (tire ratings) as well as how much rubber you have left & air pressure, they do also care about they type of hitch so excellent question. Then, they may look at the data plates and write additional violations. Like all of us, they are very well trained in their job and most that are specific DOT inspectors are very good at it. Often if one doesn't know, they call a supervisor or more higher level cop/DOT agent to your location to help, in the meantime you're on the side of the road waiting for what seems like forever.

Cops are human; each one kind of has their own area of specialty and what laws they remember and what violations they look for, so just because you didn't get written by one doesn't mean it's not illegal and that you won't get written by the next one (no disrespect to the above posters, just saying...I might of learned that the hard way.

There is a lot money to be made with the right brokerage, rig & setup but it can be a very expensive education if not done correctly.

Good luck, please keep us informed of you progress.

 

[Robobrainiac]

Thank you all for your advice. I think my next step will be to contact local DOT. I am also looking into a CDL training course at a local community college to me.

 

[HondaRed16]

Thank you all for your advice. I think my next step will be to contact local DOT. I am also looking into a CDL training course at a local community college to me.

It sounds like hanging with your in-laws would be a really good education. Also, maybe go to some of truck stops/restaurants around you the truckers stop at, buy them a cup & chat with them (you can also get a lot of very bad wrong advice this way, many will swear to death what they say is fact or law, because that's what they were told). Many of the bigger companies like Swift for example, have their own school/training program and they are excellent, but then you're obligated contractually for a period of time and they will run you to death until you've fulfilled that obligation.

Many, many options, but if you could get trained while working your current job or getting paid from some source would be the best route...in my opinion, but I'm just one of many.

 

[Robobrainiac]

If someone could help me understand this. Is the trucks total weight supposed to be less than 9000 lbs or front and rear axle added together for a total of 11210 lbs?

 

[Mopower58]

If someone could help me understand this. Is the trucks total weight supposed to be less than 9000 lbs or front and rear axle added together for a total of 11210 lbs?

View attachment 368313

Added together, 11,210 lbs.

 

[WagginTail]

Added together, 11,210 lbs.

What does GVWR mean then?

 

[Mopower58]

What does GVWR mean then?

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating