Heavy haul freight rates

What goes into heavy haul rates

A dry van load is priced mostly by the mile. A heavy haul load is priced by the job, because the job is different every time: the machine's dimensions decide the trailer, the trailer and weight decide the permits, the permits decide the route and travel hours, and the route decides how many escorts ride along. Heavy haul trucking rates come from adding those pieces up.

Oversize permit fees: three states, one load

Permit costs are the part of heavy haul freight rates you can check exactly, because states publish their fee schedules. We took one EXAMPLE load, 12 ft wide and 110,000 lb gross, and priced a single-trip permit for it under each state's official schedule.

Download the permit fee table (CSV)

Three things stand out. Texas charges by gross weight band, so a heavier load inside the same band costs nothing extra. Oklahoma charges for every 1,000 lb over the legal limit, so weight drives the fee straight up. Indiana charges overweight by the mile, so a long Indiana leg costs more than a short one with the same load. The Oklahoma figure assumes the overage is measured from 80,000 lb; ODOT applies its own legal load limit, so confirm on the permit. Add escorts and the route, and permits are only one piece of what a heavy haul load costs.

Fees also climb with size. Texas adds $75 per weight band up to $375 in maintenance fees over 200,000 lb Source, Oklahoma adds a $500 special movement fee for newly built items over 16 ft wide Source, and Indiana adds per-mile charges of $1.00 over 150,000 lb. Source

When a load needs a permit at all

Federal rules set the floor and the states build on it. On the National Network the width limit is 102 inches. Source On the Interstate, gross weight is 80,000 lb unless the bridge formula sets less Source, and axle groups must pass the bridge formula. Source There is no federal height limit; each state sets its own. Source Go past any of those and you need a permit from every state on the route, each with its own travel hours. Kansas, for example, generally keeps over-length and over-width loads off the road from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise. Source Check a load's dimensions in the oversize load checker.

Heavy haul rates per mile: a quote, built up

Here is how a carrier might price a 500-mile, two-state move of a 95,000 lb excavator on a lowboy. Every figure is an EXAMPLE to show the method, not a market rate; your costs, lanes and season set the real numbers.

Quote build-up

That works out to $9.76 per loaded mile all in, but only $6.58 per mile once the pass-through permits and pilot car are taken out. Quoting the all-in figure as your "rate per mile" overstates what the truck earns. Compare loads on what is left after pass-through costs.

Pilot cars: who needs them and what they add

Escort rules are set state by state, by width, height, length and sometimes the road type, so the same load may need no escort in one state and two in the next. Pilot car operators usually charge by the mile with a daily minimum, plus overnight costs on multi-day moves. A height pole car for tall loads and a rear escort on two-lane roads each add a full set of those charges.

Escort math

A 14 ft wide load crosses two states. State one needs a front escort only; state two needs front and rear on two-lane roads for 180 of its 320 miles. At an assumed $2.00 a mile per car with a $450 day minimum, state one costs one car for 180 miles (the $450 minimum applies), and state two costs $640 for the front car plus $450 for the rear car's 180 miles. That is $1,540 in escorts on a load whose line haul may be under $3,000. Get escort quotes before you quote the shipper.

Heavy haul load rates by trailer

How to check a heavy haul rate before you say yes

1. Get the real dimensions and weight in writing, including the trailer, not the machine brochure.
2. Price permits for every state on the route from each state's schedule.
3. Count escort miles by state and get a quote from a pilot car service.
4. Add the hours the load can't move: nights, weekends, holidays, city curfews.
5. Price the deadhead in and the likely empty miles out.
6. Agree on detention, layover and truck-ordered-not-used pay before you dispatch.
7. Subtract pass-through costs and divide what is left by all miles, loaded and empty.

What moves heavy haul load rates up or down

• Trailer: a 3-axle lowboy, a 9-axle multi-axle and a perimeter frame are different businesses with different rates.
• Travel limits: daylight-only moves, weekend and holiday bans and city curfews stretch a 500-mile run into two or three days.
• Season: construction and farm equipment move most in spring and fall, when trucks and escorts are scarce.
• Backhaul: a lowboy rarely finds a paying load out of a remote job site, so the return miles get priced in.
• Cargo value: a new machine worth more than your cargo limit means a higher policy for that load, and the rate has to cover it.
• Lead time: a load needed tomorrow pays more than one booked two weeks out, because permits and escorts are harder to line up fast.
• Loading: a machine that drives on in ten minutes pays differently from one that needs a crane and rigging crew.

Oversize load owner-operator pay

Owner-operators keep what is left after fuel, the truck, the trailer, insurance, permits they don't bill through, maintenance and their own time. A leased owner-operator on a percentage often gets a share of the line haul only, with permits and escorts passed through to the carrier's customer. For context on driving pay in general, the median for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers who are employees was $58,640 a year in May 2025 Source; heavy haul pay depends on the equipment, the lanes and whether you own the rig. More in how much heavy haulers make.

Equipment hauling rates vs other specialties

Equipment hauling rates sit beside other specialty pricing: bulk loads are priced by the ton or hour (see bulk hauling), livestock by the loaded mile or head (cattle hauling rates), and car haulers by the car. In every one, the loads that pay best are the ones the fewest carriers can legally and safely take.

If your rig handles legal-size machines, a step deck or flatbed can move a lot of equipment without permits, and those loads are work our desk books every day. You approve every load, and the broker sends the rate con straight to you. See how we negotiate better rates, or start with the heavy haul trucking guide and the GearLoads home page.

Methodology

Permit fees come from each state's official fee schedule, read in October 2026: TxDMV's general single-trip page, ODOT's permit fee addendum and Indiana DOR's OSOW fee sheet revised July 2026. We applied each schedule to one EXAMPLE load. We don't publish market rates per mile because no public index of heavy haul spot rates exists; the quote build-up is an EXAMPLE of the method. We recheck the fees every quarter and add states as we verify them.