Hauling RV's for Money

[Beentherefixedt]

For those of you who might be thinking of hauling RV's as a workcamping job I thought I'd share my experience.

NOTE: I am purposely NOT putting this in the workcamping forum as this is not an advertisement and there is virtually no readership there. (it seems completely dead??)

I was interested in hauling RV's for a while but came to it with a degree of skepticism. So when I came back from spending 4 months in Europe this spring and summer I decided to try it.

I researched it and decided on Horizon Transport arguably the largest RV transport company in the US.

I have nothing negative to say about Horizon they said what they would do and did it. It seems very well managed and the people there were great.

But economically this was not worth it for the time and money invested. I did some careful looks at the numbers before I took the job and saw immediately that it would be difficult to really do well if you counted in your trucks depreciation over and above it's normal rate.

I looked at pretty much all of the possibilities. Horizon's new truck lease program, buying an older 2nd truck just for the job and using my present truck. All resulted in very low margins...about the 20 to 25% range. That wasnt enough for me.

Two of the biggest issues on the expense side was the high cost of Diesel and Hotel stays. My per mile cost of fuel was between .22 to .24 per mile. I got paid between $1.20/mile (for only some loads out of Idaho) and $1.35/mile for loads out of Indiana.

The real killer is the deadhead cost to return from the west coast to Indiana to get another trailer.

So if you get paid to take a trailer from Indiana to Albuquerque at 1440 paid miles at $1.35/mile for a total of $1944. You can do this trip in 2 1/2 days legally under the federal HOS rules. But you then must turn around and pay fuel and hotel to get back to Indiana.

Now my situation may have contributed to my low margins, My truck has no sleeper (as many people do who do this) so I had to stay in motels. I am based for this period out of Tucson (a long ways from Wakarusa Indiana)However when I ran the numbers basing myself in Michigan (a days drive from Wakarusa)the result was basically the same as any trip to the west coast would still result in the same costs.

Now Horizon gives you a Comdata card which entitles you to some really substantial discounts on fuel at some Truck stops but it is still not enough to offset the high cost of fuel. And they have great discounts at Red Roof inn but there are not enough of them to ensure a consistent low cost.

My take away from this is pretty simple. If you have a 1 ton truck, with a class A CDL (I have a CDL)with both bumper pull and fifth wheel hitch set up and a sleeper you can haul the largest array of units giving you more load opportunities and thus higher per mile pay and a bit better margin. But unless you have all of that the margins may be too small to make it worth your while.

I do workcamping mostly to keep busy it is not necessary for my living or travel. But still I want to get a reasonable return for my efforts. We are sad this didnt work out, we knew it was iffy but gave it a chance anyway. The big upside is I learned alot about the RV industry.

[cross21114]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Fact is they do not have enough drivers due to the low pay.

The entire trucking industry is desparate for qualified, drug tested drivers. That said, even higher pay, is going to have trouble attracting the younger generation. It's a tough life for long haul drivers, sort of like being deployed in the military. Difficult to sustain a family, etc.

It can be a great career particularly for ex-military.

This has been a very informative thread. Sometimes I wonder if this model isn't similr to Uber. I question what the actual pay rate is with them.

Good luck.

[Supercharged]

NJRVer wrote:
Yet people make a living doing it.

My take is that you return empty.
You need to set yourself up to come back with some other load. Probably won't be RV trailers, but look into moving boat trailers, utility trailers, anything so you aren't empty. Would entail you seeking your own work, not just grabbing jobs from one RV company.

Hard way to make a living, very hard.

[westend]

The delivery drivers I've worked with run the delivery business mostly for the cash flow. They have enough for more fuel, a small living, and find it hard to save for a set of new tires or a major mechanical breakdown. If they're into it for more than a few years, their new delivery truck is on payments and the bigger insurance bill is a killer. BTW, the company I hauled for was very generous about age of vehicles, insurance, and other capital expenses.

[Beentherefixedt]

Let me again jump in here and clarify a few things:

The idea that you can go out and buy a used $15k truck to make this work isnt reality. Most of the bigger legitimate companies that do this require a truck no older than 5 years. That puts you well above the 15k mark for a decent diesel truck.

Secondly the older the truck the more repair and maintenance will be needed raising your costs per mile.

Manufacturers generally as far as I could see dont deliver their own units they contract it out to companies like Horizon.

It is interesting to note that Camping World has it's own delivery company but they cannot keep up with the demand for delivery.

Also The idea that just because some people are doing it means they must be making a profit is flawed. Many I talked to are certainly not business oriented folks who I judged to have no idea if they were making a profit based on our conversations. (I asked one guy what his cost per mile for fuel was and he had no idea...)

But there certainly are folks making a go of it. But as I pointed out above in another response they are those with class A CDL's, larger trucks with sleepers and can haul any kind of unit. They also tend to live close to Indiana and take shorter runs.

Dont misunderstand me I am not saying this never can work. I set out to highlight this as what I experienced as someone experienced in business coming to it as a "work camping" job. I never intended it to be anything more than that.

[Grit_dog]

If a used OTR semi was cost effective for hauling campers, people wouldn't use almost exclusively 1 ton pickups. That's where the bang for the buck is.
As far as making money at it. Numbers are easy to run. Consider full time haulers run about 100k miles a year and roughly half of that is dead heading.
At $1.35/mi loaded on 50k miles a year that's $67500 gross. Take out an average cost per mile of whatever you figure (25-50 cents) and there's no money in it.
I wouldn't get out of bed for $30k a year.
Your earning potential has to be pretty low to consider hauling campers as a career based on what has been posted here for compensation.

That said, I'm sure there are some mfgs that pay a bit more, because there are a few that seem to do ok financially with it (based on other forums I'm on), but unless you're really saavy and willing to Dooo it full time, you could make as much working the McDonalds drive through.

[Grit_dog]

wanderingbob wrote:
I do quite a few deliveries as " busy work " . It is either that or I go fishing or chase wild women .Both are catch and release .
There are other small truck jobs besides RVs ,boat trailers , Jack Rabbitt , I do cargo trailers out of Fitzgerald Georgia , pays the same as RVs . Most runs are 250 to 400 miles into Fl. I keep a log book when under load and then my wife drives home . I also " spot " cargo and office trailers for several companies .
Not a lot of profit in it but it is a way to stay busy ! When I retired ten years ago I thought that I would go fishing every day , went six days in a row and it turned into a job !

I like your style!

[valhalla360]

Ralph Cramden wrote:
Fact is they do not have enough drivers due to the low pay. I know of 3 dealers here in western PA who hire their own subcontractors or drivers and go pick up their units in Indiana. They were tired of the pissed off people who ordered rigs that took 6-8 weeks to be made, then sat on some lot in Indiana for another 6-8 weeks or longer waiting for the factory arranged transport company to get to it. Its been that way since they started coming out of the recession @2011/12.

Again, if they weren't finding drivers who make enough, the rates would go up. Not getting deliveries wouldn't be acceptable.

[RedRollingRoadb]

I may have missed it but how much were you paying yourself?

[wanderingbob]

I do quite a few deliveries as " busy work " . It is either that or I go fishing or chase wild women .Both are catch and release .
There are other small truck jobs besides RVs ,boat trailers , Jack Rabbitt , I do cargo trailers out of Fitzgerald Georgia , pays the same as RVs . Most runs are 250 to 400 miles into Fl. I keep a log book when under load and then my wife drives home . I also " spot " cargo and office trailers for several companies .
Not a lot of profit in it but it is a way to stay busy ! When I retired ten years ago I thought that I would go fishing every day , went six days in a row and it turned into a job !

[westend]

I saw a guy that did a lot of bulk deliveries that had installed a "half-sleeper" on his flatbed. It saved the cost of Motels but the numbers are still low. FWIW, I used to do regional delivery with an F-250 gasser, do all my maintenance and repairs. The depreciation mileage is a killer. If you figure that a new truck will be needed every couple of years, it is a big wake up.

[Ralph_Cramden]

DP

[Ralph_Cramden]

valhalla360 wrote:


Reality is if $1.35/mile wasn't enough, they wouldn't find drivers, so people are managing their costs and making money.

Fact is they do not have enough drivers due to the low pay. I know of 3 dealers here in western PA who hire their own subcontractors or drivers and go pick up their units in Indiana. They were tired of the pissed off people who ordered rigs that took 6-8 weeks to be made, then sat on some lot in Indiana for another 6-8 weeks or longer waiting for the factory arranged transport company to get to it. Its been that way since they started coming out of the recession @2011/12.

Like everything else in the RV industry the delivery contracts are awarded to the lowest irresponsible bidder lol.


You can bet the transport company takes the largest slice of the pie, and skimps along throwing nickels around like they're manhole covers to their subcontractors. I'm also certain they take every opportunity to screw the sub out of every pennie they can. Just business really and the guy on the bottom rung of the ladder is who gets the mud from the boots of the guy above him on his noggin.

[valhalla360]

Beentherefixedthat wrote:

I understand what you are saying but your numbers are very optimistic in some cases. Your idea of using a used Class 8 Tractor is one I looked at carefully. BUT your per mile cost for fuel/maintenance and repairs goes WAY UP over a pickup. It almost becomes a wash with the hotels. This is why I am guessing almost no one uses them.

I don't know the class details might be a 6 or 7...they look like a smaller semi-tractor.

I'm guessing most go the pickup route because they can get a used 1 ton for $10-15k and they don't care about comfort and they run it until the wheels fall off...but they are also taking every run they can snag and racking up huge mileage, not a few trips per year for some extra money.

If you already have a truck for other purposes an extra 20-30k miles per year really doesn't make a lot of difference in the life span of an MDT/HDT.

Once you figure in everything including depreciation on a per mile basis as I did you can quickly see the $1.35/paid mile shrinking quickly.

Here is one point of data from my spreadsheet: I took in $6498.45 in gross income over the 28 days of hauling 4919 PAID miles (over 11,000 actual miles) and my FUEL expense alone was $2501.14. You must remember that your per mile rate for everything has to be figured not on the paid miles but the actual miles. You are given a printed route done by PC miler on which you are paid. I was careful to follow that route. My fuel averaged $.21/mile.

I am thinking of putting up my spreadsheet on Drive for those interested to look at. You might find it interesting.

If you are doing it on the side and don't really optimize your costs, you will be lucky to break even.

Reality is if $1.35/mile wasn't enough, they wouldn't find drivers, so people are managing their costs and making money.

[valhalla360]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Seems like if you could pick up a used smaller semi-tractor with a sleeper, you could do OK. It would pull just about anything and no need for hotels (which I suspect is the big money loser if you have 5 nights at $100/night).

So if your example run grossed $1950:
- 3000miles at a 10mpg average (you should do better returning empty), that's going to be 300gal...lets say $900 in fuel.
- $50 towards insurance.

That's netting you about $1000/week working 5 days a week or about $50k/yr. Let's say you put $20k/yr aside for maintenance and buying a replacement truck that's $30k/yr or about $15/hr.

No you aren't going to get rich but it's some nice extra money and if you can find a few return loads, the hourly rate goes up substantially.

If you own the truck anyway to tow your RV, you can ignore most of the depreciation (or benefit from it tax wise) and reassign some of that $20k/yr to net profit raising your hourly rate.

As a part timer, can you pick and choose runs at all? If you aren't pressured to take every run that's available, you could take runs to destinations that interest you and expense all the travel cost and then you are there with your mini-RV for a week or two.

It all sounds good doesn't it? What about taxes and Insurance?
What about all of these HOOPS you need to jump through before you ever hook the first load up?

Supposedly all the transport companies have a hardfast rule where you can not sleep in / use the trailer. Tell that to the ones I see at a PA state park thats about 5 miles off the PA turnpike that roll in late in the day, and leave before dawn the next morning. Its more than an occasional thing. Most pull the mag signs off coming in, but they stand out. They're not sleeping in the tow vehicle so thats a savings I guess.

Did you read my post?

It might be a little low but $50/week for insurance isn't too far off from what was reported...only issue is if you do it part time, they usually won't let you carry insurance 1 week per month.

Also, I suggested picking up a used medium/heavy duty truck with a sleeper that could be used as an RV when not towing, so no issues sleeping in the RV you are delivering or getting hotels.

Again, you aren't going to get rich but making a little pocket change is certainly possible.