| | | quote | | Originally posted by TennT: Thanks, but a dollar a mile is just a little steep, with a fuel surcharge on top. TG |
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First, Vehicle Valet does NOT charge Fiero owners $1 a mile. Never has, never will. The website has that amount shown for our fee but (as I always tell all Fiero owners) ignore that price - unless you are a dealer or broker!
In 1996 when I first started this, I was charging Fiero owners .65 per mile - do you remember what fuel costs were then? And when fuel exceeded $1.50 per gallon for diesel I increased my fee to .75. And it remained at that rate for 5 years for members of this community. When diesel topped $2.50 per gallon, I WAS driven to add a .05 fuel surcharge. And that will go away if it ever drops below $2.50.
Now, what does that .75 (+.05 at the moment) get you over all other carriers? True single car, enclosed, door-to-door service in a truck that is DOT legal and has all the appropriate insurances ($1,000,000 commercial liability and $100,000 cargo to reassure you that if something happens, your interests will be fully covered). In your instance, next day delivery - check with any other means to see if they can promise that!
There are others that will do it for less, but they are doing interstate commerce with personal insurance, and absolutely NO cargo insurance to cover the towed vehicle. If they get stopped, their tow vehicle (and your car) will be impounded until all fines are paid. Your car will be impounded (even if all fines are paid) and won't move until it is either picked up by a DOT legal carrier, or by you - the legal owner. After you pay YOUR fine! And, trust me, that kind of thing is becoming more and more common (Homeland Security and all).
Oh, and don't forget - - if there is any kind of accident or incident? You will not collect a penney! Be careful who you have transport your car, check their credentials carefully. Just a word of advice.
Off the rant, back to the subject at hand. Besides insurance and costs to be a fully legal motor carrier - I also personally have a 2005 one ton truck, a 2005 28' enclosed trailer with a 7.5K generator, air compressor, winch, and even a/c (for those that have expensive, custom paint jobs). I have a lot of $ invested in order to offer the highest quality, fastest delivery out there.
My personal break-even costs are .42 per mile for fixed costs NOT INCLUDING FUEL. I do everything to keep costs down, including having a camper on my truck to save motel bills (however, the slide-in camper is off the truck at the moment being serviced). But at 12mpg and fuel being what it is today - trust me - I am not getting rich at the cost of Fiero owners! I average less than $8 per hour when all is said and done. How much do you make by comparison???
Anyway, I just want to set the record straight - don't need negative publicity in a forum this size based totally on untruths.
G
www.vehiclevalet.org
[This message has been edited by cadero2dmax (edited 09-22-2005).]
