National Association for Small Trucking Companies

Joe Pye, general manager of LMR Trucking told me today that they are seeing significant fuel cost savings as a result of their participation in the NASTC fuel program. Headquartered in Hendersonville, TN, NASTC provides lobbying efforts on behalf of small fleets, plus they have negotiated discounts on fuel, truck services, insurance and more.

Joe says annual dues to join are $350. He said that when they started using NASTC a little over a year ago, the amount their fleet of 14 trucks saved on fuel paid for that membership in one weekend!

LMR Trucking joined solely for the purpose of lowering their overall fuel costs, but Joe says there are plenty of other services available at a discounted rate through NASTC: drug screening, insurance, repair discounts, cell phone discountsetc.

Joe says that they tried the NASTC's driver hiring service, and it didn't really work for them, as most of the applicants had no prior auto transport experience. However, when he called to cancel the service, NASTC refunded his money without any hassle. Joe said that when they were first looking into the program, NASTC sent out a rep who dealt directly with their primary concerns about the fuel program-- and didn't try to sell them a bunch of stuff they weren't interested in.

For more information, you can call NASTC at 800-264-8580

Pounds of pot found in car hauler

Pounds of pot found in western, northern NM - Las Cruces Sun-News: "In Gallup, authorities at the port of entry became suspicious of the cargo on a car hauler being inspecting Tuesday morning. Inside one of the cars on the hauler was 129 pounds of marijuana in duffel bags.

Authorities arrested Peter Harris, 28, and Fabian Williams, 31, both of Florida."


129 lbs? That's some pretty serious quantity... and serious jail time, too. And if you inform on the dude you're hauling for-- possibly even worse consequences for you or your friends and family. That's what you'd call a lose-lose situation. Let those guys haul their own drugs. Seriously.

Another drugs & car hauler story

DPS dog sniffs out hidden drugs in truck being hauled on I-10 | www.azstarnet.com ®: "The Arizona Department of Public Safety discovered drugs inside a pickup truck being carried on a car hauler east of Tucson Tuesday morning.
At 10:46 a.m., on Interstate 10 east of Tucson between the turnoff to Arizona 83 and Benson, a Department of Public Safety officer stopped an eastbound car hauler, said Carmen Figueroa, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
A drug sniffing dog alerted the officer to the odor of drugs in a pickup truck, she said. They found drugs in a false bed or a pickup, she said."

Sounds like this driver had nothing to do with it. Folks, I'm telling you, the drug enforcement authorities are focusing their attention on car haulers. Keep your nose clean! (literally AND figuratively) You don't want to haul some loads. Drugs are bad, m'kay?

Car hauler busted for hauling $3M of coke

CRIME Blog | The Dallas Morning News: "The government presented evidence at trial that Watkins, and his co-defendant, Steven Alexander Aaron, 37, were arrested on April 22, 2008, after their eastbound vehicle, a tractor-trailer car hauler, was stopped by a West Central Texas Interlocal Crime Task Force Officer on Interstate 20, near mile marker 266, in Taylor County, Texas, because it didn't have secure chains or a license plate. Aaron was driving the vehicle; Watkins was the sole passenger. The car hauler was loaded with a maroon Chrysler minivan and a black Range Rover. After obtaining Aaron's consent, the officers searched the tractor-trailer and the two loaded vehicles, and discovered six bricks of cocaine in a black backpack in the rear hatch of the Range Rover. Testimony at trial showed that Watkins had hidden the backpack in the Range Rover. The street value of the cocaine in the backpack is approximately $3 million."

Car hauler: help wanted in Portland, Oregon

We need car haulers in the Portland area to help us demonstrate a bunch of new products. We're chomping at the bit to use some new video equipment we just purchased. If you've got a three car trailer or a stacker unit, we'd like to talk to you. Call 503-342-2085.

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You get what you pay for... bananas!

Scott Chandler, owner of Park Service Logistics told me a funny story today. He said a car hauler he knows got underbid by $500 on a load. A little bit later, the broker called back up and said that the truck that pulled up to haul his $60,000 car was loaded with crates of bananas, and they were just going to stick that fancy car on the rear of that trailer somehow.

Bananas.

I think it's stories like these that indicate we must be getting somewhere near the bottom of load price. But you still hear stories of cutthroat competition. And, unfortunately, it's usually an auto transport company cutting its own throat.

It reminds me of that old saying from the sixties-- "What if they had a war and nobody showed up?"

What if there was a load and nobody showed up?
What do you suppose would happen next?

Here's a really simple truth. A broker's quality of service is directly dependent on the quality of the carriers that are hauling his loads for him. Since most businesses grow by positive word of mouth and referrals, what do you think is going to happen to the fly-by-night operations that sit on a load for two weeks waiting for some carrier to agree to haul it for pennies? That right there is a strike against him... but more importantly, when that load does finally gets picked up, is that driver going to give the best service? Maybe... maybe not.

Brokers who squeeze the carriers this hard are basically violating the biblical principle "As you sow, so shall you reap." It's one thing to negotiate, but to press your advantage in a way that cripples the other party is unsustainable. It's trying to get something for nothing.

Contrast this behavior with the broker that negotiates a decent price with his customer, and offers the carrier a fair price for his service. If his driver is getting enough money to meet his needs, isn't he more likely to return phone calls, and make the extra effort that is going to improve that broker's reputation with that customer... and lead to more referrals and repeat business?

I think anything other than this type of sustainable business relationship is just... bananas.

MyFox Atlanta | Michigan Truck Driver Tapped to Speak at Democratic Convention

MyFox Atlanta | Michigan Truck Driver Tapped to Speak at Democratic Convention: It'll be interesting to hear what he has to say... will it in any way reflect the business realities faced by car haulers in the current climate, or will it lean more toward boiler-plate union language?

Auto transport equipment auction: PTS TRANSPORT and ALVAN

Ritchie Bros. to auction remaining assets of PERFORMANCE TRANSPORT and ALVAN: "Ritchie Bros. to auction remaining assets of PERFORMANCE TRANSPORT and ALVAN"

Click on the link to read the article and see a partial list of items.

Boydstun building strap car hauler with cylinders

The folks at Boydstun are building a strap trailer that will use cylinders instead of screw actuators. The target market for this new type of car hauler seems to be the owner operators who have been reluctant to adopt the new screw technology. Boydstun will continue to build screw trucks, which have seen wider acceptance by larger fleets of new car haulers like Toyota Logistics.

The Autohauler Shopper Forums • View forum - UShip, Central Dispatch, CarloadUSA

The Autohauler Shopper Forums • View forum - UShip, Central Dispatch, CarloadUSA: "UShip, Central Dispatch, CarloadUSA"

Some of the posts in this part of the forum make a lot of sense. Frank discussion of issues related to the car hauling industry.

Performance Transportation Services

If PTS, Hadley, E&L, etc. owe you any money, then you should know that there is a creditor's meeting on August 25, 2008 at 9:00AM.
Location: Office of the U.S. Trustee, 42 Delaware Avenue, Suite 110, Buffalo, NY 14202

May the force be with you.

New alloy tie-down bar for car haulers

This might be of interest to any of you car haulers who are sick of buying tie-down bars that look like they need Viagra after just one use! Click here for more info.

Attention Acura Car Haulers

Just heard Acura is getting rid of tie-down holes in the frame for model year 2009. Honda will probably be next. It's a strap-on world!