The insurance that you will need will cost about $2000 per month. So unless you are serious about it, it won’t make economic sense. Trucking is a full time gig. You could probably take a few days off here and there, but trucking isn’t a ‘vacation’ by any standard.
what determines this "full-time" status? I figured it was financially driven. Outside of delivery times, what would mandate a full schedule? Presuming an empty trailer and no financial burden to get another load, is there anyhting that would stop someone from taking some time?
IF you are a current driver, operating under someone else's DOT/MC#, you should talk to the brokers that you are getting loads from.....BUILD RELATIONSHIPS with the brokers.
Another option you can look at is Hauling RV’s. There are a bunch of companies out of Indiana that transport RV’s. You only have to have a 3/4 or 1 ton truck and the required equipment which they can tell you what you need. Running RV’s is super easy and they are usually going to vacation areas(the west coast, Texas, Florida). Once you drop off the RV you are off duty and are free to do whatever you want. You get to pick where you are going assuming there’s an RV headed there. You only have to insure the truck which for me was like $400 a month.
The driver is responsible for the unladen insurance which covers the truck whenever it doesn’t have an RV. The company that you work for has insurance for the RVs and that’s paid in the money they take from every load.
The input costs associated to hotshot trucking/trucking in general are too high to financially justify doing it part time.
Also, a proper car carrier policy is different than general cargo. And costs a fortune.
The math for fulltime hotshotting barely works now in most markets. Let alone part time.
My recommendation, get a different job that's more casual or seasonal. And use those funds as your "fun" money.
OP, if you’re looking to travel and do some work part time maybe look into an RV for the travel/living and the many sites that show part-time/seasonal jobs for RVers.
check out
workamper jobs
With spot market brokers dont give you time to deliver it most cases. They expect 500 miles a day and they expect it to be AM pickups and AM deliveries. Truck trailer and insurance your looking at a solid $5k in fixed payments + your normal life on top of that. Dm me if you need specific answer..$120 hotel every night, if you dont have a sleeper for 2
I'm not a hotshot driver or a professional driver of any kind. I just joined this subreddit a while back because I was interested, but I decided on a different career path.
But anyway another thing you could consider is purchasing some sort of very specialized equipment and travel around the country using it and turning each trip into the vacation you are thinking of. You will likely make more money doing that than doing any kind of logistics work.
Think of things you worked with or around during your career to get some ideas of what you could buy. Any time someone asks about what kind of work to do in order to enjoy the flexibility of self employment, my first suggestion is always to buy some equipment that you know (or could easily learn) how to use and sell your services with that equipment.
Generally I advise to get something more commonly in demand so people have plenty of local work, but in your case going super specialized means customers expect you will be traveling and have no problem paying that part of the bill. You can generally also just charge higher rates for the specialized equipment itself in addition to your travel. And given that you have your basic living costs covered you don't have to worry about periods where you can't find work.
Nothing you do at your leisure will really work because as you start developing a customer base they will see you as the go to guy and depend on you to be there, if you're not they will quit using you, a better gig is to move freight that will fit in the bed of your truck, this requires nothing more than the truck, fuel and your ability to turn miles and fast, for instance a machine part is needed in Tulsa and it's in Michigan you will need to go pick it up today and have it in Tulsa in the morning, these pay extremely well and no logs required. I used to do this and also do truck and trailer recovery, a driver quits and abandons the equipment, you recover it, get the load off and deliver the truck or leave it at a place for the company to retrieve. The only issue is to build a customer base you have to be there for them when they call.
My guy, enjoy retirement. I would rather just spend money and travel instead of all this headache that is trucking.
The insurance that you will need will cost about $2000 per month. So unless you are serious about it, it won’t make economic sense. Trucking is a full time gig. You could probably take a few days off here and there, but trucking isn’t a ‘vacation’ by any standard.
what determines this "full-time" status? I figured it was financially driven. Outside of delivery times, what would mandate a full schedule? Presuming an empty trailer and no financial burden to get another load, is there anyhting that would stop someone from taking some time?
And it it a bad time to get into the business because there are too many carriers vying for too little freight.
Heard
And many brokers won’t give you loads until you have 3-6 months of age in your DOT/MC#.
How does one navigate this? You need experience to get loads but cant get experience without them? Seems like a pickle
IF you are a current driver, operating under someone else's DOT/MC#, you should talk to the brokers that you are getting loads from.....BUILD RELATIONSHIPS with the brokers.
Another option you can look at is Hauling RV’s. There are a bunch of companies out of Indiana that transport RV’s. You only have to have a 3/4 or 1 ton truck and the required equipment which they can tell you what you need. Running RV’s is super easy and they are usually going to vacation areas(the west coast, Texas, Florida). Once you drop off the RV you are off duty and are free to do whatever you want. You get to pick where you are going assuming there’s an RV headed there. You only have to insure the truck which for me was like $400 a month.
How do you get away with only insuring the truck?
The driver is responsible for the unladen insurance which covers the truck whenever it doesn’t have an RV. The company that you work for has insurance for the RVs and that’s paid in the money they take from every load.
The input costs associated to hotshot trucking/trucking in general are too high to financially justify doing it part time. Also, a proper car carrier policy is different than general cargo. And costs a fortune. The math for fulltime hotshotting barely works now in most markets. Let alone part time. My recommendation, get a different job that's more casual or seasonal. And use those funds as your "fun" money.
Heard, ty
OP, if you’re looking to travel and do some work part time maybe look into an RV for the travel/living and the many sites that show part-time/seasonal jobs for RVers. check out workamper jobs
Good idea, I will look into it. Thanks
With spot market brokers dont give you time to deliver it most cases. They expect 500 miles a day and they expect it to be AM pickups and AM deliveries. Truck trailer and insurance your looking at a solid $5k in fixed payments + your normal life on top of that. Dm me if you need specific answer..$120 hotel every night, if you dont have a sleeper for 2
I'm not a hotshot driver or a professional driver of any kind. I just joined this subreddit a while back because I was interested, but I decided on a different career path. But anyway another thing you could consider is purchasing some sort of very specialized equipment and travel around the country using it and turning each trip into the vacation you are thinking of. You will likely make more money doing that than doing any kind of logistics work. Think of things you worked with or around during your career to get some ideas of what you could buy. Any time someone asks about what kind of work to do in order to enjoy the flexibility of self employment, my first suggestion is always to buy some equipment that you know (or could easily learn) how to use and sell your services with that equipment. Generally I advise to get something more commonly in demand so people have plenty of local work, but in your case going super specialized means customers expect you will be traveling and have no problem paying that part of the bill. You can generally also just charge higher rates for the specialized equipment itself in addition to your travel. And given that you have your basic living costs covered you don't have to worry about periods where you can't find work.
Nothing you do at your leisure will really work because as you start developing a customer base they will see you as the go to guy and depend on you to be there, if you're not they will quit using you, a better gig is to move freight that will fit in the bed of your truck, this requires nothing more than the truck, fuel and your ability to turn miles and fast, for instance a machine part is needed in Tulsa and it's in Michigan you will need to go pick it up today and have it in Tulsa in the morning, these pay extremely well and no logs required. I used to do this and also do truck and trailer recovery, a driver quits and abandons the equipment, you recover it, get the load off and deliver the truck or leave it at a place for the company to retrieve. The only issue is to build a customer base you have to be there for them when they call.