after wanting to give up Trade Plating, I am considering getting a single car transporter and doing the work myself to avoid hitching.
Is there a SET price as what to charge per mile etc. Ta.
Roger
You need to be charging between 4 and 5 times your fuel cost if you can get it .
For straight transporting you won’t make it profitable with one transported vehicle only unless you have access to or cater for specialist customers (classic, top marques, covered/enclosed, vintage, who already have trusted carriers), you need to be able to shift at least 2, so single carrier and trailer are minimum requirements, preferably a 7.5 tonner able to carry two plus another on trailer.
The big problem is that single car carriers tend to be nearly as heavy on fuel as one capable of carrying 2 or 3, and fuel is going to be your highest cost.
I doubt there is a set price per mile, you could phone round as a potential punter and get an idea on how much people charge I suppose. Then when you get an idea of that, do your sums and see if you can make it work.
Juddian is probably right when he says if you’re moving normal cars you’d probable need to move more than one at a time to be competitive. As for prestige car movements insurance is a big factor in the cost, plus knowing how to handle an expensive bit of kit, no doubt with low ground clearance and a very fussy owners. That’s why reputation means a lot with prestige cars, we wouldn’t get anybody to move ours we like to use people we know and trust.
They guy I use has a single able to pull a 1 car trailor and has insurance for multiple vehicles upto £250k.
He has always priced me per job than per mile.
Watch out for being overweight. most 3.5 t vans will be over if you stick anything larger than a small family car on the back.
Most of these car transporters with 3.5 tonners claim to be doing recovery and therefore run at the gross axle weights taking the vehicle to around 3850 kg when they really should be on olicence and tacho.
Ta for all the replies
Roger