Delivering RVs as a contract driver, WA resident...

myredracer wrote:
Probably a dumb question, but I have to ask. Why are 99% of the trailer manufacturers in Indiana?

About 1/3rd of them are in Oregon, and another 10% in CA. All of the west coast Forest River trailers come from Oregon, same with Keystone and Komfort. Outdoor RV and and Northwood are exclusively made in LaGrande.

Probably a dumb question, but I have to ask. Why are 99% of the trailer manufacturers in Indiana? Why not also have a plant on or near the west coast so delivery costs are reduced? It costs up to around $4K to get a unit delivered to a unit sold on the west coast and it goes right onto the selling price.

That would cut down delivery costs a lot and I'm sure some buyers would consider driving to pick them up. I wouldn't hesitate to drive across 2 or 3 states to get one if saving enough.

Also, lots of components and supplies for RVs get shipped out of Cali. to Indiana and maybe that could also lead to lower costs? I know plants in Indiana had trouble this past winter getting supplies out of Cali. and it slowed production down.

I sure would hate to have been a transporter this past winter driving out to the west coast the way the weather was.....

I agree. Wash fees back to the transporter are hogwash. I only have to wash at 2 of the dealers i deliver to and it's a pain in the butt every time. They wash it again anyways so what's the point? I have yet to see one so covered in road dirt that they could not see any potential damage.

Here's some rants about doing this gig:

So far, on a sunny day, the rig doesn't get dirty. All my trips are 4-5 hours. Sometimes I pick up a rig in the evening, park for the night, then drive the next day.

There's several transport company lots down a long gravel road. If the road is wet when the shuttle truck moved it to the lot from the factory, it's dirty.... which means it's dirty when I pick it up! I am responsible for cleaning it or paying a wash fee at the dealer regardless of whether I am the one that got it dirty or not. It irks me about the hassle and expense of dealing with issues that I am not responsible for creating.... like picking up a rig that was already dirty and the hassle and expense of cleaning it or paying a wash fee.

In the grand scheme of things, the dealers wash rigs to prep them for sale - to get rid of the greasy fingerprints on the outside wall and to remove the stickers and other identifying marks and stuff, so why the heck bill the driver for another wash fee if the rig is relatively clean when it arrives.

It's like this: dealers have "lot staff" that clean and detail, move rigs around, so in reality, washing a rig should be considered a business expense and they should factor it in the price of a the RV when they sell it, or should bill the factory directly rather than a driver.

I heard that CWRV Transport doesn't have "wash fees"

Passin Thru wrote:
You have to pass a DOT inspection of your rig and your office. You can't have a fuel tank that reaches above the top of your bed because 5th wheels wont clear it. You must have a 26,000 lb 5th wheel.

Tool box/fuel tank can be no more than 4".

How does the DOT inspect someone's "office"?

Passin Thru wrote:
It is a terrible business. My bro did it and he made 1.35/mi loaded and ety almost 1/2 the time. You can't use the toilet, water or heat nor sleep on the bed. You may sleep on the couch wit h a sleeping bag. Motel costs are around $90/night when deadheading for anything besides a Roach trap. You must log loaded and ety miles. You have to pass a DOT inspection of your rig and your office. You can't have a fuel tank that reaches above the top of your bed because 5th wheels wont clear it. You must have a 26,000 lb 5th wheel.

You need to budget this on being empty half the time. Any backhauls are a pure bonus. Logging all miles really is not that big of an issue once you know how to competently complete them.
Motels are much cheaper than $90/ night if you look. on that note if you plan n sleeping in hotels all the time then this is the wrong career choice. Not enough margin in it to hotel it all the time. Fuel tank / tool boxes can reach 4 inches above bed rails according to most companies. A 16,000 lb hitch is the requirement i have seen by companies. Have not seen any looking for a 26,000 lb one yet.

It is a terrible business. My bro did it and he made 1.35/mi loaded and ety almost 1/2 the time. You can't use the toilet, water or heat nor sleep on the bed. You may sleep on the couch wit h a sleeping bag. Motel costs are around $90/night when deadheading for anything besides a Roach trap. You must log loaded and ety miles. You have to pass a DOT inspection of your rig and your office. You can't have a fuel tank that reaches above the top of your bed because 5th wheels wont clear it. You must have a 26,000 lb 5th wheel.

My old daily driver (2012 Jeep JKU-R) had pretty much gotten abandoned in the garage, and it's really no longer the best vehicle for my needs, so I traded it off on this bad boy:

2006 2500HD D/A CCSB 4x4 (LBZ with 6 speed Allison)



I held out for an 06 or 07 Classic to get several things I wanted:
1. New enough to have the 6 speed (manual shift mode is PARAMOUNT when towing, in my opinion, since I have grown accustomed to it on my 09 dually)
2. Old enough to not have emissions like the 07.5 and newer have.
3. Old enough to have rear seats that fold in to a totally flat cargo deck, maximizing the front to back distance (space) for cargo gear hauling for daily driver and road trip needs I really hate the way the 07.5 and newer seats fold up against the back wall of the cab.

I will plan on getting this rig set up to haul RVs with, though it's still only going to be a part time thing, and I didn't buy this truck with the sole intent of counting on hauling RVs with it in order to justify the purchase of it.

My Jeep is (well, WAS) a sweet rig, and it kind of killed me to sell it, but It was so nice, I couldn't bring myself to drive it during the winter months, and with that in mind, it was pointless to keep it. Over the last few months I've been towing my own trailers all over Washington, and I've been doing it with this pile of C R A P:



I basically turned the above rig in to my winter daily driver / part time tow rig. But, it's not the most powerful thing towing my little cargo trailer around... plus the fuel economy of a 350 carb engine with 4wd and 4:10s isn't great when towing!

So far all I've hauled is 3 loads. My day job has kept me so busy, it's been really tough to haul when the weather is good. My free time has always been when the weather was bad.

My last haul was a bit of a white knuckle experience because it snowed a LOT more than the forecast called for, and the temps stayed colder than the forecast said, so it kept snowing in the Mountains rather than warming up and melting off like the forecast predicted. HOLY CRAP, that was not fun.

I've been doing a bunch more research on this since this thread got started, and insurance is a killer.... 3-4 times more expensive than a personal vehicle policy.

Not many of the well known insurance companies will even offer a commerical policy.
One that will is Progressive, but it's about as much as the plan offered through the transport companies.

Delivering RVs is gonna wear out your nice truck, and you won't have enough cash left over to reaplce it in 3 years.