I figured that would be your thoughts. We have a lot of time to think about these decisions out on the road lol. Keep safe and can't wait for your next video TP
this subject your talking about right now is huge and has many angles. Its the long thought out process. Non cdl is hard to dispatch and the spot market varies from month to month, city to city. CDL 5500 cab and chassis - 40ft trailer can be higher maintenance because the trucks can be worked harder, under severe duty. Semi, can book loads much easier, but maintenance can bite down the road, out of pocket costs take long to re-coop. They all have there pros and cons.
I think there is a sweet spot in Hot Shot. Non CDL with a 40 ft trailer working your own customers and mixing in spot freight to connect the dots. A 40 ft trailer is difficult with a long bed while staying under 65’ but it’s doable.
Enjoy your channel Chris ,love the older fords . 99 150 gas died at 286000. Miles .i am going to get my cdl A but i to will stay under 26000. I don’t think i will go 40 ft . Priced a 35 flat deck big Tex ,southern and PJ. No mega ramps .looks like you got a good gig going . Thanks for all your info
I had a 22 Penske box truck with 20 sandbags and 5 pallets of material with a trailer with a skidster in the back. I was curious about my weight. And was 26,629. So over weight by 629 pounds. Could I get arrested for the extra weight?
You wouldn't get arrested. Depending on the officer, they would either let you go with a warning, give you an over weight ticket, or make you park the truck and get a CDL driver to finish the trip. More than likely they would give you a warning because it's not that much over the 26k mark
I run a flat commercial truck..for thr company I work.with .imm a lift driver rigger ..carpenter ..and i.no.how to load and upload. 53ftrs..stage lumber ..stack..feed all the carpenters there lumber. I..out in the field out on the road.. big road.. no fifth wheel..just a 26 ftr..26 thousand gvw...been up the Montain this week ..first time handing grades. I. The freight liner handled.good.at 6% grade...for 7 miles..no.truck driving school taught me ..just myself ..no teacher .
If you dont mind I would like to see what your break down or estimate would be on the cost of running an older truck like the one you have as opposed to the newer trucks. Things like mpg comparison, cost of maintenance, tow capacity ect.. Thankyou, love hour stuff
You make good points.. I will share my experience. I started hotshot in 1997 and somewhat retired in 2018 at 40. I still run once in a while for a good load just to get outa house.. My whole 20yrs i never got my CDL for many of reason u said.. Its not really even about paperwork.. It just didnt make sense to me to load a daully with 40k lb.. If i wanted to deal with that much weight i would of got a class 8.. And for only dealing with 10-12k lb. I had trucks go 600-700k miles better MPG everything lasted longer instead of overloading a dually n chew it up quickly.. HOTSHOT by nature was started in 70s n 80s oil fields to expidite 3 or 4k lb parts.. But the trend last 10yrs with dually having higher tow capacity alot of guys wanted to be truckers n act like truckers with duallys and haul serious weight.. Non CDL gave me option to retire at 40.. Always worked for me.
I've been around trucks all my life. I've worked myself to the bone for a lot of companies making them money. I started hotshot'n almost 6 years ago and I plan on retiring 10 years from now. I feel like I'm semi retired now that I work for myself lol. I just turned 40 and I grew up with the mentality of working as much as possible but I never started making good money until I started working for myself. I do a lot of other things for a dollar but haven't really been able to include that side of things in my videos yet because we are in the off season. When the weather break's I'll be posting videos of different material along with the hotshot. I'm really glad to hear you were able to retire at a young age and able to enjoy life. It's something my dad always looked forward to. He retired at 60 and never made it to 61. That's what really opened my eyes to get to a point in my life to be able to slow down a little. Glad you liked the video and I'll keep them coming
@@chrisward405 Thats awesome chris !!! Being self employed is best.. In high school i fliped cars. Its what bought me my first truck n trailer.. I never had a real clock in job .. I started in good area fuel was $1 a gallon.. Loads were min $2 bucks and ranged mostly from $2-3 PM. Insurance was cheaper n would go 2 days wo seeing another hotshot on road.. Just hotshot prob never had me retire so early. I ran my numbers prob 6 months ago. In 20yrs. I grossed about $5 million bucks.. After taxes,fuel n mantaince. In 20yrs hotshot put almost $3 million bucks into my pocket.. So i bought 3 rental homes.. I get $7k a month in rent money coming in.. And rest is sitting acct.. Your doing it right.. IMO its not just about running hard .. If i did it full time today.. I would do it like you pick n choose loads and just run when it makes sense.. As long as your paying the bills n little extra money in pocket or future and free times on ur hand.. It means ur winning n doing it right..
@Courtney Saunders was different times. Pretty much all loads were $2-4 per mile. Fuel was $1 a gallon till 2003, And no ELD. Ran 150-180k miles per year on avg. Miss those days 😎
@Courtney Saunders Semi for sure .. Better everything .. Back then hotshot was more of niche and special so we got paid for it.. Today would rather buy used semi and roll..
semi and Hotshot, and over 26000lbs. So if you do 26001+ you need a CDL ( duh ) Apportioned plates/IRP, ifta , heavy vehicle usage tax, higher insurance, for those plate mention earlier they will probably be 800-1200 usd per year. The poster is right on on, the total out of pocket expenses are much higher.
I too run a 1999 F350 with trailer derated for non-CDL. Another hassle and expense is the drug testing. Not that I drink or use drugs, but it's just another added expense and waste of my time!
@@chrisward405 Yep! Just another reason to stay under 26K! Tell me about what's in the ceiling between the courtesy lights in your 99...I see the reflection in your videos but hadn't seen one before.
@@2020HotShotTruckingLLC it's part of a luxury package that came on the truck new. It has light strips in it. The round thing that you see a reflection of is the fill cap for my auxiliary fuel tank
Go go from a HotShot to a tractor trailer would more than double your truck and trailer costs alone. To step up to a F450 (to go over that #26,000 mark) and get a bigger trailer would not be that big a price jump and you can take bigger loads.
@@archangel20031 what I've always done was get a couple dozen donuts and some business cards and go to your local car dealership or fab shop ect. and let them know how you can help them
Seems to me that the economics for running semis are messed up. Given what it takes to get your CDL and the skill required to operate one, not to mention the expense, you should net a higher amount.
I agree. I've already raised my prices and have no complaints from my customers. The services I provide are well worth what I charge. It's cheaper for the company to pay my rate and get the job done now VS waiting on LTL freight to deliver
Thank you for the information it was very good. I’m doing my research on equipment and insurance. Any specifics on insurance and the way you went about purchasing eqiupment.
I owned my truck and trailer when I started. The truck was a 2000. My insurance was a lot cheaper with the older truck. It will be more expensive with a new or newer truck. You will probably have to be insured with progressive starting out. What brand of truck are you looking to get?
@@indiomoreno3755 if you are using older trucks I suggest getting a one ton. F 250's and Dodge 2500's sag way to much and you will get pulled over more because it looks like your over weight.
When you started talking about semis looking at that same load for a partial you said that he's going to haul that same load at $2 a mile that you're going to haul with more expenses, but you didn't really mention that he might have two or three other partials on the trailer.
Probably a good idea. This line of work changes constantly. I'd recommend you get your A CDL so your less restricted for loads. Hope to see you on the road soon
I'm a hotshoter. I run 26,000 and under. Ram 2500 and a 16k gross trailer or 14k gross trailer is the perfect setup. Ram 3500 is an overkill they are for pulling 30k lbs. Ram 2500 can pull 15k lbs. Trailer is 4 to 5 pounds. Then you can put 10k on the trailer. Anything larger you will be limited by the 26000 mark. Can still only put 10k on the trailer before over weight.
I'd like to know what type insurance you carry for an under 26,000lb non-hotshot load. I have all the equipment to hotshot and no expenses (2018 diesel pickup and overdeck flatbed trailer are paid off). Thanks!
The insurance is 75,000-1,000,000. There's been talk of raising it. If you haul auto's I believe you need 100,000 or 125,000. Not sure. Sounds like your off to a great start owning newer equipment. It's a huge leap of faith in this business but your already ahead of the game
Well you're right it is a lot more headache but you not using your head if you think you won't double your take home. Capitalism, the more risk you take the more your rewarded, it is always worth it or it wouldn't exist.
I agree with you. The trucking industry changes so much throughout the year. I made this video a while back and things have changed since. My advice today would be don't waste your time with a pickup truck. You'd be better off in a semi.
I'm considering getting into non-cdl hotshot trucking (26,000 and under). The issue i'm struggling with is finding a truck and trailer combo with a gcvwr 26,000 or less that has acceptable deck space. Is you're gcvwr 26,000 or less?
@@dennycrowell7196 if you are looking at a new gooseneck you can get a 40 foot 16GN from big tex and have it derated. You can also check out southern trailer company out of Alabama
Thank you so much Chris, I lear from you, HSD, TP, Southern Georgia ,Trans something sorry, ehhshit, I am taking the chances, is my only chance to start legit, and up to me to hustle and make it happens,
Well the only trailers I know of would be a wedge trailer. I personally don't like wedge trailers. As far as hauling 3 auto's staying under CDL I'd check out Kaufman trailers. I started out hauling auto's and had a Kaufman 2 car hauler and loved it. Very light weight and held up great. Could also check with Appalachian trailers as well. Biggest thing you might run into is getting a trailer derated and being able to haul 3 legally. These are the only light weight trailer manufacturers that I know of for hauling auto's as I switched from auto's to hauling flatbed freight shortly after starting my company. Hope this helps.
It's all luck of the draw. It depends on your self motivation, the loads you haul, equipment, down time for whatever reason, ect. I really can't tell you how much you will or will not make. But I can tell you if you work hard towards your set goals and keep your ducks in a row 9 times out of 10 the outcome is rewarding. This goes for anything you set your mind to.
Do you need ifta and irp for a 26ft box truck thats under 26k to run interstate ? I know its little off the subject but i been seeing all these box trucks running some say that you dont and some say you do ?
I’m going to run a 2 car non cdl car set up with a dually but I have a class a do I still have to do fits irp etc because I’m a cdl holder or not thanks in advance
My thought is if you lease on with someone you are giving your profits away. Best thing to do in my experience is get your own authority and keep the money you make on your own
@@bryonsusedautos I understand now. Does your friend already have an MC and DOT number? You will need the correct commercial tags for your truck. As far as insurance goes you should at least have bobtail insurance on the truck to cover it if you run it on personal conveyance. Your friend should have you and your equipment on their company insurance. You will have to have a company name and a signed agreement for leasing on with his company and keep a copy of the agreement in the truck. Does this help any?
Nope. I have a class A license and have drove a truck for many years. Now with that said I made this video a couple years ago. I am still non CDL. My advice today would be don't waste your time with a pickup truck. Go get a semi and run it. I'm staying non CDL because it's where my business thrives with my direct customers
Well the sounds bad is a - 10°F cold start and the looks bad, the white smoke is do to the -10°F cold start on a diesel that wasn't plugged in overnight. If you ask me it's pretty impressive
Did you down rate your trailer? One of my guys I got runs 14k truck and 14k trailer. Its tagged 26k .He has cdl. He never scales over 26k (truck +trailer +load) would that require IFTA?
@@keithnash3573 my 99 ford gvw is 11,400 pounds and my trailers are both 14k. My tag is for 26k. I can't weigh in over 25,400 pounds. If your truck is 14k gvw and trailer is 14k gvw and your tagged at 26k as long as you have a CDL there could be an argument if you get an a hole scale person