[Luzon]

Hi gang. I drove OTR as a company driver for 3 years and came off the road in Nov of 09. I've been selling insurance again since that time and it's been really slow so I find myself applying at a number of the fuel haulers here in Tampa - as a company driver. That's by background - short version.

I have a friend who has an F250 and the largest trailer allowed to stay under the
25k weight catagory. He has 2 customers that he does just a few jobs for each month and that pays his truck & trailor payments. The trailer has 6' high, non-removable side walls and is actually a dump trailer.

So, I was talking with him the other day about possibly working together with getting more loads such as hotshot loads, site cleanup (which is what he's doing now), and other types of smaller loads.

He has insurance and business license that the city requires but no DOT permits/registration. He told me that his truck, which is a diesel, only gets 6 mpg. I think that's very low for a small truck - i got better than that with the KW 660 I was driving. Also, with the non-removable sides on the trailer, a lot of loads would not be available to us.

Anyway, I wonder if any of y'all can give some advice. The current setup is not ideal for hotshot services, etc. but I'm wondering if we can make a go of it until we create the funds to buy a flatbed trailer. Also, what exactly would we need to do to get the proper DOT stuff in order?

Also, any words of wisdom is very welcome. At this point we're just kind of exploring options so we're not married to this idea. It may not make any since at all but I thought I'd turn to you folks.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Oh, and what have I not asked - or thought about, that I should be asking??

Thanks,

L

[tracer]

I sold insurance in Canada for a while and almost died from starvation. Switched to driving and never looked back: cargo van, 5-ton truck, tow truck, company driver (tractor-trailer), owner-operator (own truck), and owner-operator with own trailer. I think with a small truck like that F-250 your choice of loads would be pretty limited. I'd try get a job as company driver to pick up some experience again, and then get own truck, and later own trailer. I think ANY driving job you can find can help you get back in the field. When companies see that you've been working in the unrelated (financial) field and hasn't driven a commercial truck for 10 years, they'd be hesitant to trust you the expensive equipment, especially tankers with fuel. When I was an insurance salesman, I looked and dressed good, but I had no money! Now I look like a bum at work 50% of the time, but the income is stable and the work is always there. I work for Landstar so there's no dispatch and noone is telling me what to do. I pick up my own loads and negotiate my own rates. As Gman used to say, this gig here is the next best thing to being totally independent.

[Luzon]

Thanks for the input Tracer. I came off the road last year, not 10 years ago. I don't want to go back OTR for several reasons, chief among them is that the wife has rhumatoid arthritis. I am trying to go back to driving but on a local level hauling fuel. I have 3 leads that all could potentially turn into a job. I'm thinking that in my off hours that maybe I could, with my friend, help develop a nice little side business.

Again, thanks for the input.

[tracer]

my mistake. you did say '09' not "99" when I drove a wrecker (a flat-bed truck), we did lots of local work for equipment rental and construction companies. just an idea - there's always a need to move stuff like bobcats, loaders, forklifts etc. i remember some guys who did this independently were using pickup trucks like the one your friend has. i talked to one independent guy and he said he wanted to get into a bigger truck, at least a 5-ton with a trailer. what we usually did was to go to the yard of this equipment rental company, pick up some machine (eg a scissor-lift or boom-lift) and deliver it to a construction site and then when the work was done - bring it back. the best money i made as wrecker driver was when i delivered expensive cars to movie shoots. it was fun! there's specialized companies that supply movie shoots with cars and our job was to move these cars around town. they always wanted a flatbed wrecker with a tilting bed for expensive cars and suvs.

[GMAN]

Most people whom I know who do hotshot have a 1 ton dually. You could use a 3/4 ton, but may be somewhat limited in what you could haul. If your friend already has a foot in the door with a few customers, I would suggest starting with that market. Your friend already has some experience in that segment and has the equipment in place. At this point it would be a matter of making some phone or cold calls to sell the service. You could always expand the service and buy a different trailer. A step deck or flat bed would offer greater opportunities. If he has already been operating his business he may have everything in place to start doing more business. If you stay within the state of Florida you may get by with only having state authority and a DOT number. If you run an apportioned tag then you should also get an IFTA account. I would contact your state motor carrier office and see if they could provide some advice on what would be needed based upon your particular operation. If you plan on going interstate with the operation then you will may need interstate authority. If you can keep your GVWR under 26,000 you may be exempt from some of the IRP and other DOT compliance issues. You may not even need intrastate authority. I would do a search for "Florida Motor Carrier Services" and find the state office and see if they can answer your questions directly. It is better coming from the horses mouth, as we used to say.

[Luzon]

Thanks for the good info Gman. I was thinking of doing just that - making some cold calls. Before I do that though, we have a lot more research to do. Good idea to call the state MC office. At this point we're not considering leaving Florida should we move forward. Actually, we would want to stay within central FL, and idealy, central west FL - at least to start.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Most hotshots I see in FL are hammer-down in the leftlane at 75mph+....... if you kept it at 65mph i bet that truck gets 9mpg