what would you charge?

i dont normally haul for hire, but dad is selling his skid loader, and its goin to kansas, and asked if i wanted to deliver it.

so here is the question. to pull a skid loader, weighing at 10,008 pounds, from northern illinois to kansas, 850ish miles one way, around 12.5 hours, and dead head back, what would you charge?

im assuming its in that neighborhood of $2-3/mile. is that just figured on the "to" part of the trip, or would it also include the return trip?

including fuel, or plus fuel?

im not goin to try to do it in one day, ill stay somewhere overnight.

just trying to get a feel for whats fair. i dont want to screw the guy, but i dont want to leave money on the table either.

if you was goin to do this, and say give me a bill, how would it be figured/worded? can you break it down for me?

I would probably charge 3 per mile plus fuel and a place to stay.

When my race team haulers a customer car, I charge $2.85 a mile flat rate.

Cobra 19 & 54 said:

When my race team haulers a customer car, I charge $2.85 a mile flat rate.

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what do you do for a unloaded half the trip?

Most haulers only charge loaded miles. It is your job as the hauler to find a load for the return trip.

You could charge an hourly rate and the cost of fuel.

You could also just figure up a price by doing your mileage. For instance if it is 850 miles one way that would be 1750 miles round trip so lets say you average 10 mpg round trip that wold be 170 gallons of fuel burned figure that at lets say 4.15 a gallon average and you wold be at $705.50 in fuel then you just have to figure out how much you want to make on the deal and figure in the hotel cost and go from there and just give a flat price now these numbers are just examples because only you wold no what the true numbers wold be with your truck and also don't for get to factor in wear and tear on you rig

Vader's Fury said:

Most haulers only charge loaded miles. It is your job as the hauler to find a load for the return trip.

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This is the answer. Mine differs because race cars usually go out and come back as well.

thanks guys.

Honestly, don't over complicate it. I'm in this business for a living. What if you lose a tire, etc, that eats your money away quick! 850 miles, 1700 round trip, I'd be charging $2500.00. Sound too expensive?? It's not. -$700 for fuel, -$100 for hotel, +$1700 in your pocket. That's $1.00 a mile for ALL miles profit to you.

Where are you hauling it to? FWIW, when I've done some stuff on the side I usually do $3 a mile plus fuel.

My price was minimum. BUT, the way I look at it is, you're going to reach a point where the guy will say screw it, it's cheaper for me to come get it. You don't want to bid it so low you're cutting your throat. You're using and wearing on your equipment, taking time out of your schedule etc. That's a easy leave Tuesday morning, be back Wednesday afternoon (with sleeping) trip. My rate was $2.95 a mile, loaded, or $1.47 for all miles traveled. No need to charge fuel in addition to. One of the contracts I used to service monthly, was 420 miles on way, and I charged $1200 to do it. I did it with my pickup and 24' enclosed trailer. It cost me $200.00 in diesel to do it, and a day of my time, profited $1k. I didn't have commercial insurance, or anything like that, so that wasn't a factored cost. If I had cargo insurance, etc, that would have been a $2400 trip. Not worth it to me to pay the extra $1k a month for cargo/commercial insurance, when that extra being charged would have gone towards that ins. Payment. The people paid what they did, bc they could call their order in to the manufacturer at 8am, and I would have it unloaded at their business at 2am when they opened the following day. They had a delivery company delivering it for them prior to me doing it, charging $900 for the same job, but I could get it to them 2 days sooner, and I had it ready to be set up before they opened, unlike the other company who showed up mid morning. So, to some people, the convenience IS worth the extra cost.

What were diesel prices when you made that haul? with prices increasing by the week or so id charge at least a small charge for fuel.

I had a trailer delivered and they charged $1.00 a mile. They only charged one way not round trip.

^^^ there's cheapos everywhere. Reason why the transportation industry is the way it is.

It was $3.70-3.90 a gallon IIRC. NEVER break your rate down by what makes it up, fuel surcharge etc. Give them one price, and don't try to justify it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make. Dint tell him x amount per mile, fuel etc. Tell him "this is what I can do it for, if it works for you, I can have it to you 8am Wednesday morning. If it doesn't work, don't come back cheaper. Let someone else take the hickey.

When I bid mine, I figured what I wanted to make profit for the trip. Figured my costs, calculated diesel at $5.00 a gallon...worst case scenario to make sure my money was still there lol. If I scored a load going up, I didn't make my return rate cheaper. Always the same no matter what.

Jason said:

^^^ there's cheapos everywhere. Reason why the transportation industry is the way it is.

It was $3.70-3.90 a gallon IIRC. NEVER break your rate down by what makes it up, fuel surcharge etc. Give them one price, and don't try to justify it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make. Dint tell him x amount per mile, fuel etc. Tell him "this is what I can do it for, if it works for you, I can have it to you 8am Wednesday morning. If it doesn't work, don't come back cheaper. Let someone else take the hickey.

When I bid mine, I figured what I wanted to make profit for the trip. Figured my costs, calculated diesel at $5.00 a gallon...worst case scenario to make sure my money was still there lol. If I scored a load going up, I didn't make my return rate cheaper. Always the same no matter what.

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Figure out what the fuel, wear and tear on the truck, any other associated costs, and your time is worth per loaded mile and give them a price. I usually move stuff for right around $2.75 per loaded mile fwiw.

I charge fuel and 20/hr for customer hauls. I don't transport for a living but i do have insurance for it through my shop.

Lol, i just drove 8 hours to sell a Cummins and made $280 bucks after its all said and done.

Proly gonna do some stuff here and there with the OBS gasser i just picked up. Save for the DT466 swap.

We run a hot shot rig, at the end of the week we like to have 1.20-1.25 a mile for every mile it has went! 1.80-2.50 is the average price of hot shot freight the shorter the distance the more you can usually get

Travis

Id do what Jason is saying. Sounds reasonable. Its expensive to ship stuff like that. The guy knew that when he bought it tree trimmer. That many miles, id want a g in my pocket afterwards.