Child support, Florida and your non-existent CDL

Just talked to a driver who was bailing his brother out of jail.  Apparently in Florida when you get behind in your child support payments they suspend your driver's license.  He found this out when he got arrested at the weigh station for driving with an expired license.  OK I get that Florida is serious about getting people to honor their obligations to their kids, but this strikes me as heavy-handed and counter-productive.  For instance, if you wanted to get somebody's attention in a similar fashion, the court could issue a bench warrant for the guy's arrest for non-payment of child support.  It accomplishes the same thing-- gets the individual's full, undivided attention... without damaging his ability to earn an income and thus pay the child support.  Ridiculous.

Accurate Auto Transport Bankruptcy Auction

 

Accurate Auto Carriers equipment auction

Auction will be held Jan 20th, 2011 at 10AM in Romulus, MI and via webcast.  Click on link for more info.


Want the inside scoop on what truck you REALLY should buy?  Former maintenance director at Accurate Auto Carriers will tell you about the good, the bad and the ugly.  (For a modest fee.)  Dan is available at 567-220-0288

Car carrier rolls on Route 54

Car carrier rolls on Route 54

I'm wondering how that Escalade was tied down.  I'm guessing straps, because the vehicle in the back was tied down with lasso straps.  Double ratchet system on that big SUV might have helped keep it on the trailer.  Still would have had damage, but might have avoided turning the Cadillac into a 5000 lb projectile. Not saying this guy had worn straps, but if your straps are frayed or nicked beyond 1/4 inch, toss them.  This sort of wheel strap costs 8-9 bucks. Buy your clothes from Wal-Mart if you need to save money, but don't run with worn out tie-downs.  Just saying.

Buy now or pay Uncle Sam later.

Just a friendly reminder: if your car hauling business runs on the regular calendar year, you've got less than two weeks to make any business purchases that you can use as deductible expenses on your 2010 taxes! So if there's any thing you might need, better buy it now, or give it to Uncle Sam to transfer to needy bankers.

Car Hauler Equipment Wanted

Perry Morgan is looking for a decent 5 pack daycab. If you've got something fairly decent, call (925) 455-6666. Note: this is a TRUCK. Please don't call and try to sell him your old wedge trailer.

Rampzilla

Biggest single run car hauler ramp I've ever seen. Buy it now!

December  17th addendum
Gene from Pyramid left me a voice mail saying that he just received these ramps... thought they were so good-looking he wanted to hang them on the wall like a piece of art!

Accurate Auto Transport Bankruptcy News: Trucks for Sale Soon.

OK, so this isn't the newest news about the Accurate bankruptcy, since they went bankrupt last Tuesday at 2:45 PM. Spoke with Dan, the former director of maintenance, and he said they've got the trucks staged at Baggettown, PA; Peoria, IL; and Houston, TX. There is a pending Internet-only auction. Dan said there are a few '05 and '06 Petes that have been well-maintained, as well as some nice Freightliner daycabs. Most of the trucks are around 500,000 to 600,000 miles, so it's going to be tricky separating the wheat from the chaff in this remote-viewing auction. Dan says for a modest fee, he'll tell you which ones are goodies and which ones are dogs. His cell number is 567-220-0288.

According to Dan, there was a decent buy-out offer on the equipment from United Road Services, but Citizens Bank thought they could get more money at auction for the trucks. Guess we'll see about that.

Car hauling rates about to rise? (Part 2)

More evidence of rates "bouncing along the bottom" from a friend of mine hauling new Mercedes to Utah-- he actually gets more hauling junked cars OUT of Utah than he gets hauling new Mercedes IN to Utah. Don't know if this means rates are about to rise in this low demand lane, but hard to imagine they could go down any more than that.

Rates about to rise?

Are we bumping along the bottom right now? Was talking to an equipment salesman who says he's hearing of an owner-operator shortage right now. My very next call was to an owner-operator who said he was getting out of car hauling because the rates were ridiculously low. Just a hunch, but I'm beginning to think the supply-demand curve may be starting to flip. Companies with new car contracts may go into next year's negotiations with a bit stronger hand.
10/26/10: Update
Just read this on Marketwatch:

Last month, Ford sold 160,873 vehicles, up from 109,939 a year earlier — marking the 23rd time in the past 24 months that the company has expanded its share of the retail market.

Ford is looking to maintain its momentum, even as rivals find their footing and become more competitive. In fact, the company announced Monday that it will invest an additional $850 million in Michigan between 2011 and 2013 as part of a plan to upgrade its facilities. Click here for rest of article.

Ford started their recovery plan about two years before the collapse-bailout of GM and Chrysler. If GM and Chrysler's restructuring approximate that of Ford, we should expect significant improvement over the next couple years as their changes have a chance to grow deeper roots and as the economy continues its slow slog out of the quagmire.

Tip for car haulers

Got some great tips from Doug Winchester of Wholesale Motors. Next time you're trying to get cars to haul and some other trucking company has offered a ridiculous low-ball price, ask your customer if they got a copy of the other trucking company's insurance directly from the company providing that insurance. The way Doug explained it, some individuals will pay the deposit to get the certificate of insurance, and then stop making their payments. They run around with that worthless piece of paper for a whole year. By the time the customer finds out... it's too late.

• Ask for the phone number of the insurance carrier so you can get a faxed copy of the current certificate. If the other company makes a bunch of excuses about getting this info to the customer, this is a big warning sign.
  

Other things to remind the customer:

• Does the other company have references? If a guy has been in business for a number of years and has a lot of experience hauling cars, he ought to have at least a half dozen people you can call up who will give you a good report on him.
  

Doug says you really ought to know who is hauling your cars. He recounted a tale of damage caused by inexperienced haulers crossing the polarities jump-starting a Porsche. He told me another story of outright theft-- three Mercedes that disappeared... along with the "trucking company" that was supposed to transport them.

• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Just like Mom always said. Too often, people are attracted by a low price and forget all the other components of the value of the service they are buying. As Doug said, "Too often, customers have to learn the hard way... but by then it's too late." Part of your job as a car hauler is to try to help your customers make the right decision and avoid getting ripped off by incompetent or crooked people.

Enclosed Transport: E track clip with built-in ratchet

Photo courtesy of Lee Knox.

No, you won't find this assembly on our site. Lee assembled these by buying some of the heavy duty bull ring type e track fittings and removing the bull ring. The bolt secures the ratchet to the two e track clips. They are 4 9/16" high at the side of the winch stand, and 5 1/8" high at the release lever. Lee says they work pretty good for the 1940 Ford he transports.

Low Profile Tool Box for Cottrell C12, C14 etc

Paul over at A Reliable has a smoking hot deal on low profile tool boxes to fit Cottrell. This box goes in between the pooch plate on the lower rear position. They can fit 40 or more wheel straps and ratchets. He sells them for $750 installed. A Reliable is located in Pensacola, FL. (850) 479-7799

US auto makers continue recovery

GM and Ford see strong sales gains; Toyota lags - MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler all posted double-digit gains in monthly U.S. sales Wednesday, while Toyota Motor Corp. lagged the group as incentives lost some of their punch.

GM reported a 16.6% rebound from its bankruptcy-deflated results of May 2009, and Ford Motor Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!f/quotes/nls/f (F 11.87, +0.02, +0.17%) followed up with its sixth straight month of gains in excess of 20%, thanks to the success of its new model lineup.

Prices going up soon for steel, aluminum, etc.

If you've been deferring maintenance on your auto transport trailer, now might be a good time to sit down and make up a shopping list... prices are set to jump due to increased costs for component materials like steel, aluminum, webbing, etc. Here is a link to the current specials for car hauling parts, straps, chains, etc., due to expire as soon as we run out of stock purchased at the old price. There is also a coupon code to save you $10 for orders placed online before May 31st.