re: Thinking about setting up a hot shot business

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have a sales guy that does it on the weekends. He’ll make 2000-2500 per weekend before expenses. He has a f450 and a gooseneck.

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What's his average mileage?

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But you probably have to be able to manage stress well.

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Obviously there’s some stress in the fact you have to make the delivery, but with the demand in trucking right now what else is so stressful? Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to make the trip which I’m sure everyone does, and you are golden? There’s no guarantees in anything.

I know a guy that moves big boats that are too large for typical consumer grade trucks. He does a lot of work in the Great Lakes region in the summer, then on the gulf coast a lot too. He also moves some oilfield stuff at times in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

Some of those boats are insanely expensive. I’d be afraid to move them. RV trailers are probably a better, less risky approach to this, but you are more likely to be going to the more boring parts of the country. The industrial and oilfield parts are probably harder on his equipment and on him given that they probably require more off road miles and he has less help loading, unloading.

He seems to do well, but I know he works all the time and spends a fortune keeping his truck insured and maintained. He typically buys a white 1 ton Chevy Duramax or Ram Cummins with a flat bed, and he trades them in every 4-5 years. And I would be surprised he he doesn’t put 500,000+ miles on them in that time. He has a 2020 model Chevy now that already has over 100,000 miles. I bet is probably replacing all 6 tires every year and changing the engine oil once every month.

I bet he has a shite load of hotel points by now though.

And yes, he is always recommending podcasts to me.

You may have gotten this idea from the TV show "shipping wars".

If not watch the first 6 or 7 seasons. It is a group of people bidding on loads and then what the bid winners go through to deliver

They are showing on the Quest channel at night and the on-demand is on A&E and/or FYI

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I don’t know. They gotta be paying these guys out the arse with everything going on right. Got to be

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they are right now. but right now won't last forever. my fil was an OTR trucker and it took a huge toll on his body.

if you can supplement your days on the truck with yoga, stretching, etc. then you could probably offset that. he didn't and is paying for it.

I think it’s a great idea. I also think it’s rare to have any success just kinda working here and there. Good luck

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As far as the lifestyle, you will be on the road all of the time.

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Do most hot shotters (sp?) not basically take 2-3 day trips? They go take a load out and then bring a load back basically right? That’s over simplified obviously.

Where as an over the road big rig driver may be gone for weeks potentially with loads going all over? Again, oversimplified and many options I’m sure.

I would think that a huge control factor for hot shotting would be your home base location and the amount of local loads needed to be delivered out? Or maybe in?

In other words, if you lived in bumfrick Alabama where no manufacturing or other deliveries were needed within 1.5-2 hours of you, then you would need to consistently rack up the miles to start or end and get home. Where as if you lived next to some major warehouses or supply chains then you could potentially sit on your couch and just wait for the right loads to be needed that week that you wanted to take.

Growing up, my grandpa was a hot shot driver and always on the road.

Looking back, I'm starting to think it was because he disliked my grandma lol

Wouldn’t you just basically be working for your brother?

Most hot shot drivers I know move heavy equipment