ready for a change

RORO72707 · Sep 14, 2009

hi good people of EOL land. well after reading EOL for over 2 years now my wife and i thought we would take time to finally join.no we are not in expediting but the will to do it is there.both of us are over the road drivers for over 11 years moving new and used commercial trucks and rv's across the us and canada.we have driven alot of everything and have seen alot of this country and were not done yet.some of you may have seen us or someone else doing the same thing,dinghy towing their car behind a tractor truck or straight truck,bus,van,boomtruck,crane truck or bus.we use our personal dinghy towed car to get to the next truck using our money for gas and other expenses;food,hotels,repairs etc. i am here to tell you this has taken its toll on us cause we have both gotten tired of calling dispatchers only to hear there are no loads within 1000 miles of us.plus the money we have spent on hotels would blow your mind cause most of the trucks are used and nasty or they dont have sleepers at all.after doing this for 10 years and having several dinghy cars because of the beating they take we are ready for a change.we have talked about this for 2 years now and i think its time to stop talking and make a change. we got our eyes set on a 2008 chevy 3500 extended van with only 10 miles on the od. i do have questions.where do i find e-track and how to set it up for a team plus other questions later on.yea i know what your thinking,not another van.i have talked to other drivers in the vans and so far i have not heard of anything to sway me from getting one.as to who we might drive for is express1.i have talked to several people who had nothing bad to say about them.thanks for taking time to read this and good luck to all out on the road or sitting at the truck stop or rest area or where ever you maybe.we might be making a mistake but hey we all take our chances!

Turtle · Sep 15, 2009

RORO72707 said:
...we have both gotten tired of calling dispatchers only to hear there are no loads within 1000 miles of us.

Oh, you'll just luv expediting then. When you call dispatch, they won't tell you there aren't any loads within 1000 miles of yo, they'll just tell you, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

plus the money we have spent on hotels would blow your mind cause most of the trucks are used and nasty or they dont have sleepers at all.

Then you obviously know that you need to outfit the van for living. Like insulate it like crazy. Make sure you have a good vent fan, and some way to heat it, like with an Espar heater. If you're gonna live in an iron box, might as well make it comfortable.

we got our eyes set on a 2008 chevy 3500 extended van with only 10 miles on the od.

Check with Express-1. The like Sprinters a lot. Cargo vans, not so much. Also, make sure you have a low payment. Really low.

i do have questions.where do i find e-track

Google "e-track", any trailer place, especially one that sells horse trailers. Others will have some specifics for you, I'm sure.

and how to set it up for a team plus other questions later on.

Go to truck stops and take a tour of as many vans as you can.

yea i know what your thinking,not another van.

That's amazing. You should take that to Vegas. You're exactly right.

i have talked to other drivers in the vans and so far i have not heard of anything to sway me from getting one.

Clearly, you've been talking to the wrong drivers, or not enough of them.

as to who we might drive for is express1.i have talked to several people who had nothing bad to say about them.

The fed me breakfast one day in Wilmington. That was nice of them.

we might be making a mistake but hey we all take our chances!

It's hard to say. You might do just fine, you might flop huge. One thing you should be aware of, so as to know how to deal with it, there are two groups of "truckers" who have the hardest time adjusting to expediting: those from the general trucking industry who were used to driving all day every day, and those who used to do driveaways. The hard adjustment is the time period from when you deliver, to when you get your next load. That makes or breaks a lot of them, because it is about as unlike anything you've done in the past as it gets. It is critical that you have something to kill time, sometimes days of it, where you sit and do nothing. If you're prepared to do that, you'll be fine.

greg334 · Sep 15, 2009

Yea as the shelled one said, you better get used to the dispatchers.

Also I agree that you didn't talk to too many of them if you left with a positive report. Most of the time people won't tell you they are failing or struggling to make themselves feel better. Other times they want to make it look like they make all the right decisions.

Which ever way, the first rule is shop around for the company but never decide on just one.

The last thing is where do you live? It would be so d*mn helpful if people would put in the profile where they live when asking where to get this or that. Well if you are in the detroit area, Truck n tow in Detroit will have everything you need, including 10 foot sections of etrack and those colored straps.

Turtle · Sep 15, 2009

I've ordered a bunch of stuff online from Truck-n-Tow. I once ordered some stuff from them online while I was sitting at the Detroiter. I have no idea why.