Getting into Hotshot

[Merrick7.3]

Hey are any of yall in hotshot? Im thinking about getting into it..

Is it worth the investment/headache? Too competitive?

Pros/Cons?

Any advice is appreciated!!

[SabineHunter]

In. Retiring in June, 2022. Got gmc, duramax, 2500, 4x4

[matagordian]

I looked into pretty hard before I retired (41).
Looked like there was a lot of competition that are willing to loose money. They end up going into massive debt and then going out of business.

[matagordian]

I am mostly talking about dealing with brokers.

[Shinesintx]

I looked into pretty hard before I retired (41).
Looked like there was a lot of competition that are willing to loose money. They end up going into massive debt and then going out of business.

Just curious, why would they do that?

[gatt40]

Don’t do it

[r_u_sharp_2]

My dad did it after he retired. He hooked up with a major trailor distributor and would deliver for them. He really enjoyed that. Travel trailers and horse trailers.

He did some hotshot work through uship. Didnt care much for it as it was really competitive and the people shipping would try to screw you at the time of delivery so you usually did it for less.

He had a Ram 3500 and an enclosed trailer(24 ft I think). By the time he quit, he had 750k miles on the truck. A transmission and an engine rebuild.

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[HTOWN]

My neighbor does it. He has a few big accounts that deal with the local refineries.

He makes 200k a year. Brokers alot of his work to other drivers when he's too busy or wants to take time off.

He has a truck with a gooseneck. Takes alot of care in his equipment. Mostly local runs, home by 4 almost every day. No weekends.

I think it depends on the accounts, the product hauled and amount of runs being made to make it worth it.

[matagordian]

Just curious, why would they do that?

Desperate. Sometimes they get a decent load somewhere then get stuck. Then would accept a load that would lose money to get home. Sometimes they would sits for days at a truck stop waiting for a broker to find them a load home. If you drive empty, your loosing money.

Pop on youtube and join some forums. Search tbh also. Some guys were/are making good money.

After doing my “research” I feel sorry for a lot of otr drivers. Underpaid field for sure, When you calculate how many hours their gone from home.

Maybe its changed after covid.

[Buckshot4900]

I did it for about a year. Hauled military aircraft parts for Raytheon and made a chunk of money, but, it was always an emergency run and you only had time to fuel and pee.


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[stxbowhunter]

I've never personally done it, but have a good friend that does. The key to his success was personal relationships with individuals that were able to provide him a lot of business from the start. He has always claimed if it weren't for those relationships he would have never been successful.

[Shinesintx]

Desperate. Sometimes they get a decent load somewhere then get stuck. Then would accept a load that would lose money to get home. Sometimes they would sits for days at a truck stop waiting for a broker to find them a load home. If you drive empty, your loosing money.

Pop on youtube and join some forums. Search tbh also. Some guys were/are making good money.

After doing my “research” I feel sorry for a lot of otr drivers. Underpaid field for sure, When you calculate how many hours their gone from home.

Maybe its changed after covid.

Thank you sir, appreciate you explaining the why.

[PVDT]

Bad idea. I owned a small trucking company on the side for 16 years. Anything to do with trucking is an awful idea. The amount of regulations in the industry now is absurd. Not to mention rates…..the cost of everything involved have increased substantially when rates have not. For example, tires during that time pretty much increased 100%.

[Rick]

If you can get in with a company and be their goto guy, you can do well. If you are working off a first out board, you will likely struggle. It is a hard life, lots of hours and miles, phone will ring 24 hours a day.

[mjhaverkamp]

Good friend of mine did it for years, he had a dedicated run hauling utility type trailers for Big Tex or another manufacturer. He was quite the salesman, had a big personality, I think he did pretty well at it.