Re: Getting SMB shipped
I'm not familiar with car haulers per se, but in general, I would start by just looking for them on the net. You could try calling some flat deck companies who often have 20-30 feet of open deck they would like to fill with freight. You would need a ramp or need to hire a flat deck tow truck to get the van on and off the trailer on either end. Also, some cities are lacking in outbound freight for a particular type of trailer so freight going in will naturally cost more. Denver, actually most of Colorado, for instance is a Dead Zone for outbound flat deck freight. I have routinely driven empty to TX, KS or MO for a decent paying load out of CO.
The problem with Brokers is that they often find the work and make the promises without actually dealing with the customer or having to deliver on the promises for the work itself. They in turn sell the load, sometimes for a fraction of what a customer paid, to an independent owner operator to do the work directly or to a company who hires owner operators.
The trucking company then takes its cut before the owner of the truck, the one with the lions share of expenses, gets anything. This is commonly referred to as "Double Pimping." Fuel surcharges are a very real and effective way of giving a customer and a truck owner a fair price. However when a third or fourth party is involved, the fuel surcharge often gets treated like the base rate and does not get passed on completely to the one paying for the fuel. The Customer does not get what he paid for and the trucker does not get adequately compensated.
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