Drive-a-way company, driver turnover

Hi gang,

I am considering working for a drive away company here in my hometown. They are Quality Drive Away INC. Any info you have on them will be GREATLY appreciated. I have read some comments here and feel less enthusiastic about it. They have an office here at the Volvo Truck plant Dublin VA which is 10 minutes from home. They require a 2 day orientation next week, a hitch to tow my personal vehicle and pay ranging from 1.04 per mile to 1.19 per mile. They also have return runs which pay the same. However I will be working as an *independent* contractor for them (which I haven't before tried) responsible for the fuel costs of delivery. They pay 1/2 of the trip up front and the remaining balance upon delivery. I have to fax the delivery paperwork to their office then they pay me for the remaining balance. Please, does anyone have any experience or forwarning, etc that may help me decide what to do here? Are there any positives working for a drive away company such as this.

 

A guy I know was talking about a friend of his who worked for a driveaway company out of Joplin,Mo. He made about $60,000 a year but was a subcontractor which could be good or bad depending on how you like to do business. Like anything, I think it depends entirely on who you work for and what you want. I don't think I'd like using public transportation and living out of a suitcase and toolbox. I'll stick with my motel.

 

You have to do the math. You figure what diesel costs and how many miles are you going to drive. You can use the average of $3.95 a gallon for diesel and figure 600 miles tops maybe more around 500 miles a day. If the vehicle got 6mpg you'd come up with $395 dollars for fuel on the 600 mile scale and your pay would be $1.19 per mile you'd come up with 53¢ a mile. If you use the $1.04 scale you'd be at 38¢ a mile.

Of course these numbers change but you're looking at above average pay. EXCEPT if you have to pay the cost back.

Dukesdad, you got ripped off. 7000 miles for $1100 is a little over 15¢ a mile. Plus it would be very hard to drive 700 miles a day. You're killing yourself for peanuts. I could be wrong but that's what I came up with. It much easier to figure by the hour!!!

 

Like I said, we only got paid for driving the buses. While in the van we didn't get paid. So actually it was about 30 cents a mile. Yeah right. So the company said.
The reason we could average 700 miles a day was the van is not commercial, so we could run it 16 or 18 hrs a day.

 

So you're going to be the richest people in the hospital. 7000 miles and 10 days for a measly $1100. No thanks.

 

yeah I know it don't make a lot of sense. But sometimes you have to pay the bills. Sure wouldn't want to figure by the hour.
On the up side, I got to see a lot of the U.S.A. that I wouldn't of seen otherwise. Even if it was through the windshield.

 

I started working for a driveaway company in March 2004 and still do it. I could give many reasons not to do it and many reasons to go for it. I am dispatched 20 miles from my house in PA and 85-95% of the trucks got at least 10 mpg. The fuel surcharge was and still is based on a 7 mpg vehicle. Anything over 7 mpg is a bonus to me. This extra money usually covered my motels and sometimes the flight too. This year in October, the company we moved trucks for, not the driveaway company, took the surcharge away and decided to pay the fuel 100%. Sounds great for most but all of a sudden I was paying to get home out of my linehaul. Also, the new 2008 and up years get only about 7 to 8 mpg.

Now the only trips that make sense to me are the longest ones. I can pretty much figure how much I will make as soon as I know where it is going. I calculate how far the drop off point is from the airport and the cost of the flight, motels, food and miscellaneous. Then I call the dispatcher back and tell him yes or no. The short trips I used to take with my towcar no longer pay well.

My first trip to NC I had to get a Greyhound to go 240 miles to my next truck. It took a day and a layover of 6 hours. That was the second and last time I ever rode a bus. After this trip I purchased a car, had a hitch mounted on it, bought all the attachments and I was in business. I would leave PA with a truck to somewhere and find another one before I dropped the first one off. I would usually go for 10-12 days at a time. I've made descent money at this. My first full year I grossed $81,000. Now I only do one truck at a time and come home. Before they took the surcharge away I made more money on trips in the 230 to 500 mile range. Now it is different.

I still like the job but the economy had struck and all sales are off. Sales where I pull trucks from are down as much as 65%.

I just wanted to share my thoughts after reading through the different opinions. Have a question, please ask?

 

I'm familiar with Quality and they are one of the better companies . I read not long ago they have new contracts for truck deliveries . Contact them through their website .

 

I drove for them since January 2004. They are a good company.

But freight is really slow. I would suggest calling up there and talking to them before I jumped into it. I recently went on a leave because of the slow freight.

 

It's funny this came up just yesterday I was talking to a guy who does this. He said he like it. His job is union and he gets around 30 cents a mile and all the other time is by the hour. His flights, buses, hotels, and other stuff is paid for. I forgot the name of the company but I have it somewhere. He also have ins. vaction and other benefits.