How much money can you truly make with set up like this?

I believe insurance will take most if not all of the money one can make hauling cars with a 2 or 3 car set up these days.
Not to mention the wear / tear & depreciation of equipment.

If you really want to haul cars. please find an established reputable company with a customer base & drive for them.
You will keep more of the money in your pocket vs passing it along to insurance, fuel bills, non paying accounts, fines etc.

 

All depends on the customer. Some want the cars asap and pay accordingly. Some just want cheap. Actually, most just want cheap.

 

Most want cheap and then complain about rate at delivey. My response " click click - sign on the dotted line please".

 

no idea how those guys don’t get shut down and put out of service immediately. I see them on the Toll Road a lot between Chicago and New Jersey.

 

Very realistic advice and he’d learn it the hard way if he went out and tried it for a couple months. It’s just not a good business model unless you’ve got an in with a shipper who’s willing to pay top dollar to move 2 or 3 new units at a time in a specific lane. Then maybe you could do okay. Trying to live off the load board hauling used junk on irregular routes you’re just competing with the bottom feeders for 50 cent cars. It’s backhaul freight at best and sometimes then not even worth bothering with.

 

You can't make money with that kind of set up legally.
Here is how it works. Someone opens an MC for one truck, but in reality they run 10 trucks under it, uninsured . Drivers for the most part are new immigrants who just crossed the border and don't speak English. They run over 4500k miles per week and logbook gets manipulated every day.
Since there are many pick ups and deliveries, they all sleep less than 4 hours per day.
If you don't have a CDL, there is a 26klb max allowed weight for that kind of setup, so those drivers constantly run overweight and go around scales.

I feel bad for those drivers, because by not knowing laws, they get really screwed up and abused by their scam employers

 

Lets break it up assuming you just got your MC & drive 10,000 mile per month. Based on the loads I'm seeing.
Each car can be $0.50-0.6 cent per mile.
you will gross $15,000 per month.

- Insurance= $2000 per month
- Fuel= $4000
- Maintenance for truck and trailer= $3000
Other fees= $1000
Total=$10,000-$15000 gross.
You profit $5000 a month pre tax.

 

You can say I have a bit of experience on this topic.
I started out with a 35ft (2 car) trailer and a 2001 ram 3500 I owned outright. It’s actually how I got into “trucking”.

Prior to applying for my own authority, I was leased on with someone who was lying about the rates, (About 6 months and I had enough).

Starting out, Insurance was fairly affordable (about $6500 for the year). Registration was around $200 a year in my state ( registered at 26k, no IRP/IFTA )
Fuel economy wasn’t terrible, depending on the route and which way the wind blows.

Having to only book 2 units and self dispatching (working off central) I was able to load my self between $1.50 and $2.00 a mile, which isn’t bad considering DAT/Truck stop loads are around $2 - $3 per mile.

Now I’m in a Volvo, registration was around $1800 this year, insurance around 10k for the year. I have to file IFTA, fuel economy is about 6mpg and I average between $3 - $4 a mile with my current trailer.

DISCLAIMER:
This is my personal experience, I am aware that a lot of the “hot shot” set ups are likely hired drivers in trucks that likely don’t have the proper insurance. .

That being said, from personal experience, yes you can make a decent buck in a hot shot setup registered at 26k. I also recognize the benefits of a real truck and the opportunity to make more per mile. The hotshot operation cost less to turn the wheels but limits your opportunity. Just my experience.