Hotshot is a heavy-duty pickup pulling a gooseneck or bumper-pull trailer. It exists for freight that is either too urgent or too small to wait for a full truckload, and the rate per mile looks high right up until you remember the load is usually a fraction of a trailer.
A single "rate per mile" hides four different things. Brokers and shippers argue about the wrong one all the time, so here is the whole stack, using the live numbers above.
| Component | Per mile | Who it belongs to |
|---|---|---|
| Line haul | — | The truck’s core revenue — driver pay, tractor, trailer, maintenance, insurance. |
| Fuel surcharge | — | Moves with the DOE average. Quoted separately in contract freight, buried inside the number in spot freight. How fuel surcharge works → |
| Carrier total | — | What actually lands on the carrier’s rate confirmation. |
| Broker margin | — | Covers coverage work, credit risk, claims exposure and the brokerage’s own cost of doing business. |
| Shipper pays | — | The all-in number, before any accessorial actually incurred on the load. |
The line haul and fuel split shown is an industry-typical approximation — roughly 78/22 at current diesel levels. On a real load it moves with the lane and the week, which is exactly why fuel is normally quoted as its own line.
Most failed bookings are not arguments about money — they are a load that physically does not fit the trailer that showed up. These are the numbers to put in a posting.
| Truck class | Class 3–5 pickup — typically a dually one-ton |
| Trailer | Gooseneck 30–40 ft, or bumper-pull 20–30 ft |
| Max payload | 10,000–16,500 lb depending on the rig |
| Deck width | 102″ legal, same as a flatbed |
| Authority | Interstate for-hire hotshot needs full operating authority and insurance |
Commonly shipped on hotshot: Construction and oilfield parts, small equipment, machinery components, urgent replacement parts, small steel loads, pipe, generators.
Benchmark rate per mile multiplied by real lane distance. Useful as a starting point for a conversation, not as a quote — direction, season and appointment requirements all move the true number.
| Lane | Distance | Carrier gets | Shipper pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odessa, TX → Oklahoma City, OK | 400 mi | — | — |
| Houston, TX → Shreveport, LA | 240 mi | — | — |
| Denver, CO → Salt Lake City, UT | 520 mi | — | — |
Distances are practical truck miles and will differ slightly from a car routing. Work out your own cost per mile →
| Period | What happens |
|---|---|
| Year-round | Driven by urgency rather than season — a down production line does not wait for spring. |
| Mar–Oct | Firmer, tracking construction and oilfield activity. |
| Winter storms | Spikes hard. Emergency parts and utility work create the highest hotshot rates of the year. |
A flatbed carries three times the weight for not much more money per load. Hotshot wins on speed and on small loads — if your freight fills a real trailer, you are paying a premium for nothing.
Hotshot rates look expensive per mile and are usually cheap per job. When a shipper balks at the rate per mile, reframe it as total cost of the load against a full truckload they would only half fill — and against the cost of their line staying down another day, which is the number they are actually comparing against.
Weigh it before you post it. The single most common hotshot failure is a load that turns out to be over the rig’s payload, discovered at the dock, which cancels the job and costs you a TONU plus the delay you were paying to avoid.
Line haul is the number everyone negotiates. Accessorials are the number that decides whether the lane was actually profitable. LoadBoot publishes its terms rather than renegotiating them load by load, so both sides know before the truck moves.
| Accessorial | LoadBoot standard | When it bites |
|---|---|---|
| Detention | $60/hr after 2 free hours | Four hours at a dock can exceed the whole margin on a short lane. |
| Layover | $250/day | A missed appointment that pushes delivery to the next day. |
| TONU | $250 | Truck ordered, then the load is not there or does not fit. |
| Lumper | Reimbursed with receipt | Grocery and food distribution, almost every time. |
Worth knowing whichever side of the load you are on. A broker who understands the carrier’s floor covers freight faster; a shipper who understands it stops wondering why the cheapest quote keeps falling through. Against a typical all-in operating cost of $1.90 per mile for a small carrier, the current hotshot benchmark leaves:
$1.90 is a working average for a one-truck operation. Fleets with newer equipment and better fuel programmes run below it; an older truck with high maintenance can sit well above. Calculate your actual number →
Rate is rarely the reason a hotshot load sits. It sits because a carrier cannot tell from the posting whether the load is legal on his trailer, how long he will wait, or what he gets paid if it goes wrong. Five things fix most of that.
| Weigh it before you post it | The most common hotshot failure is a load that turns out to be over the rig’s payload, discovered at the dock. That is a TONU plus the delay you were paying to avoid. |
| Give real dimensions | A 40 ft gooseneck and a 20 ft bumper-pull are very different trailers. Length matters as much as weight. |
| Say how urgent it genuinely is | Hotshot pricing is driven by urgency. If it can wait two days, an LTL or a flatbed will cost far less. |
| Confirm whether it needs to be tarped or secured | A hotshot is an open deck. The same securement and weather rules apply as on a flatbed. |
| Give both contacts and both sets of hours | Expedited freight moving overnight needs somebody reachable at the other end. A locked gate at 03:00 turns a rescue into a layover. |
A national benchmark is an average of very different markets. Direction matters as much as distance — the same lane run the other way can price completely differently.
| Versus national | Markets |
|---|---|
| Above national | The Permian Basin, the Bakken and other energy markets during active drilling — and anywhere hit by a storm. |
| Around national | The Texas triangle and the industrial Southeast. |
| Below national | Rarely. Hotshot pricing is set by urgency far more than by lane balance. |
Typically 10,000 to 16,500 pounds depending on the truck and trailer rating. Above that you need a full truckload carrier.
The load is smaller, the trip is usually expedited, and the return leg is often empty. Judge hotshot on total cost per load, not on cost per mile.
Yes. Running hotshot freight interstate for hire requires operating authority, insurance and the same safety compliance as any other carrier, regardless of vehicle size.
Usually a 30–40 ft gooseneck or a 20–30 ft bumper-pull. Deck width is the same 102″ as a flatbed.
Not quite. Hotshot describes the equipment; expedited describes the service. Most hotshot freight is expedited, but a sprinter van or a straight truck can run expedited too.
When the freight is urgent. LTL is cheaper but moves through terminals and takes days; hotshot is direct, one truck, one driver, straight through.
If the combined gross rating is over 26,001 lb, yes. Many hotshot rigs are deliberately specced just under that line, but operating authority is still required either way.
Posting is free for brokers and shippers — no subscription and no per-post fee. Every carrier who can accept your load has had authority, insurance and safety checked first, every load carries live GPS, and the accessorial terms above are written down before the truck moves rather than argued about after.