I used to haul a 7 car trailer from MI to CA, Iv been an O/O of a FLD 120 and an INT 9400 with a 72 inch sleeper. Iv hauled for 5 or 6 different companies over the last 10 years. Iv hauled Rock,Lime,Sand, Asphalt,corn,Beans,HazMat Tanker,liquid sugar,cars and a dry van . I had my own authority for a couple of years. There is money to be made with all trucks from time to time. There is also more money to be lost with trucks from time to time. There are several reasons for this. The biggest reason as to why it is so difficult to make money with a truck is you are squeezing the same lemon as people who do what I call trucker math. Most O/Os and company drivers are guilty of this and it goes kinda like this, Im makeing 3 bux a mile on this load, Im getting 300 bux for 100 mile run. The guy doesnt figure in the 50 miles of deadhead, or the 3 hours it took to get loaded or the 4 hours it takes to get unloaded. They dont figure in replacment cost of equipment and they dont count uncompesated time. They also think that something is better than nothing as far as rates go. Another problem you run into is any segment of the trucking industry that happends to be profitable is rapidly ruined buy the JB Hunts and swifts of the industry. There was a time when HazMat tank was very lucretive then Schnyder got into it and the rates went through the floor. Schynder also got into flat beds and drop decks at one time and ran the rates down so much that they had to get out of it. Car hauling in a stack and rack enclosed trailer is sheer Hell but it was at one time a sweet gig . Then swift got into it and the rates are less today than they were 6-7 years ago when fuel was half of what it is today. Swift also just sold the car hauling part of there company and I doubt it was because they became tired of taking all that money to the bank. Take a look at the rate of a 12 car hauler who thinks he is making 5 bux a mile. It can take 5 hours to load and three to unload and you usually come back empty so the 5 bux is now down to 2. 50 a mile. If your are leesed on to a company they are going to get 20-30%. Now your are running for maybey 1. 80- 1. 90. now lets look at insurance if you call several thousand PER car deductable insurance . Its going to run you 5-10 cents a mile in the long run. There are 2 kinds of guys that haul cars. Those that damage them and those that lie about it. I thank god I have never had a wreck in a big truck of any kind, I have no points, Iv never been put out of service at a scale. I did however Damage the first car I ever loaded. Damged a second one also. Both were minor but it still costs. Now you can maintain a trailor that has a verey complex hyd system and that will cost 2-3 times more money that a dry van . The cost of a new quality 7 car trailer is about 60-70k. You can get them cheaper but Tust me you need a quality trailer and its the safest and cheapest way to go. The last run I made hauling 7 cars to L. A. CA and back to mi paid me 7 thousand bux... . I also ended up driving 8000 miles. If you run full out and back you end up deadheading all over several states on both ends to pick up and drop off. If you pick up a full load in one spot you will usually come back empty. Its just the nature of the Beast. The fewer cars you haul the less deadhead you do. Its been my exp that in most cases and there are exceptions, that there is no more NET profit in hauling 12 cars than 3. If your pulling a seven to 12 car trailer you end up loading and unloading the same car over and over again as the pick ups and drops dont go in any kind of coherant order. Unless you are young and thin and very heathy you cant do the seven plus car gig very long without getting hurt. IMHO if you want to try the car thing do it a step at a time. Start with a 3 car and work your way up if its profitable for you. Another thing to look into depending on where you live or run is you can haul some typs of things on a 3 car that wont fit on a 2 level trailer, Raised roof conversion vans, duallys,Limos,UPS type trucks,ext. One other thing to consider is a type of three car trailer that might be safer than a wedge as far as a 1 ton pickup . there is a trailer made by a company call Gorrila trailers out of OR. Its a 36 or 38 foot Goosneck flatbed,low to the ground with a hyd ramp at the front that puts one car over the top of the front car but the top car is still not very high in the air and the deck is mabey 2 -3 feet off the ground. Its also a lot easyer to handle a 36-38 foot trailer than a 53 foot wedge with 6 more feet of extentions, Everyone has a different exp in all things. Its late and this isnt flowing well so lets just say You can handle a lot of cars and a lot of money and keep a buck now and then or you handle a few cars and less money and keep the same buck now and then and do it with less risk and labor. I have a CDL A with hazmat,Tank, doubles and tripples and with fuel and rates what they are today I honestly dont know of any segment that is doing well as far as being an O/O is concerned
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
. My name is Michael and like I said I'm new around here and the proud owner of a Silver 05 Dodge 3500. I have been driving OTR for about six years now and just wondering if there's any money to be made hauling cars with my dually. From what I've been reading not many people happy hauling RV's. I've spoken to a couple of the larger auto transport companies and they said as long as I have my own authority they could put me to work. I would like to get some opinions from people that are in the business before going through the process of getting my authority. I see a lot of duallies pulling cars but they're always going opposite of me and I never get to talk to any of them. So if anyone can give me any info I would appeciate it. 
