How much do car haulers make? Pay, costs and two sample weeks

Three ways car haulers get paid

Company car haul drivers are counted by BLS inside the heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver group, where median pay was $58,640 a year, about $28.19 an hour, in May 2025. Source Pay inside that group varies widely by employer, region and freight, so treat it as context, not a car hauling rate. Owner-operators don't have a salary at all: they have revenue and costs, and what's left is theirs.

Company car haul drivers: how the pay is structured

Company car haul jobs pay in a few common ways. Some pay a percentage of each load's revenue, which rewards full trailers and good lanes. Some pay per mile with extra pay per car loaded and unloaded, which recognizes the time loading takes. Some guarantee a weekly minimum while new drivers learn. Ask for an example settlement sheet before you take the job, so you can see what a real week looked like for a current driver, including the deductions.

Questions worth asking in the interview: how many cars a typical load has, how many loaded miles a typical week runs, whether loading time and waiting time are paid, who pays for damage, what training is paid, and how home time is scheduled. Two jobs with the same headline rate can pay very differently once those answers come in.

Owner-operator pay, built on two rigs

Below are two EXAMPLE weeks for owner-operators with their own authority. The prices per car, miles and costs are assumptions to show the method; diesel uses the real US average of $6.352 a gallon for the week of October 26, 2026. Source Swap in your own numbers.

A sample week, before the owner's taxes and own pay

Board costs use each board's published plan: Central Dispatch Core at $139.95 a month on the wedge Source and Premium at $214.95 on the stinger; Super Dispatch's free carrier board would lower that line. Source Insurance is a placeholder. Federal rules set at least $750,000 in public liability for for-hire carriers in trucks of 10,001 lb or more Source, and dealers and brokers commonly ask for more liability plus a cargo limit per load, which is where car hauler insurance gets expensive. Get a real quote before you trust any P&L.

Read the last line for what it is: what the business has left in a week, before income and self-employment taxes, before the owner pays themself, and before a slow week, a breakdown or a damage claim. A good week and a bad week can be thousands of dollars apart.

From a week to a year

Multiplying a good week by 52 is how new car haulers fool themselves. Trucks need shop days, drivers need home time, and car hauling has slow stretches, especially in the weeks after the holidays and when auctions are quiet. A more honest yearly view counts fewer working weeks and a share of weak ones.

A year, with slow weeks

Take the 9-car stinger above at $5,109 left in a good week. Say it works 46 weeks: 32 good weeks, and 14 slow weeks where it moves half the cars but still pays most of its fixed costs and leaves about $1,000. That is $177,488 for the year before taxes, the owner's own pay and repairs, and fixed costs keep running in the six weeks off. Your mix of good and slow weeks is the number to track.

Open vs enclosed: different pay, different costs

Enclosed car haulers carry fewer cars, often 1 to 7, but charge much more per car, because the cars are worth more and the customers pay for protection. Their trailers cost more, their cargo limits are higher and their schedules are set around collectors, auctions and shows. Open haulers win on volume: more cars per trip and steady dealer, auction and rental work. Per mile, either can come out ahead; it depends on how full the trailer runs and how far it goes empty.

Costs car haulers forget to count

• Damage deductibles: a single claim can wipe out a week.
• Hydraulics and ramps: stinger and wedge deck systems wear and leak, and repairs take the truck off the road.
• Straps, chains and wheel nets: worn securement gear has to be replaced, not stretched one more trip.
• Tires on duallies: a 3-car wedge runs its pickup hard, and tires and brakes go fast.
• Fuel tax filings, registrations and plates for each state you run.
• Time unpaid: waiting at auctions, dealers closed when you arrive, cars not ready.

How car haulers raise what they keep

Most of the gains come from the same few habits: plan the next load before delivering the current one, fill the last slots on every trip even at a lower price per car, keep empty miles short, and build direct work with a few dealers who pay on time. Photo every car at pickup and delivery to stop damage claims before they start. And price every trip in dollars per mile over all miles, not dollars per car, so a long empty run never hides inside a good-looking per-car rate.

Leased-on car haulers: the split

Leasing to a carrier changes the math. The carrier finds the cars and usually covers some of the insurance, and you get a share of revenue. Intercity Lines, an enclosed carrier, publishes 65% of each line haul to the truck, with the carrier paying cargo and liability insurance and the owner-operator paying bobtail insurance, workers' comp, road and fuel taxes. Source

Lease split

A 6-car enclosed trip bills $9,000 in line haul. At a 65% split, $5,850 goes to the truck. From that, the owner pays fuel, truck payments, maintenance, bobtail insurance and taxes. Compared with own authority, the truck gets less per car, but the biggest cost, cargo and liability insurance, and the work of finding cars are off its sheet. Which pays better depends on how many loaded miles each setup gives you.

What moves car hauler pay

• Cars per trip: every empty slot on the trailer is lost revenue on miles you drive anyway. Filling the last two spots is where the margin is.
• Empty miles: car haulers burn fuel and time getting to pickups. A great-paying load 300 miles away can lose to a fair one next door.
• Price per car: set by distance, lane balance, open or enclosed, running or non-running vehicles, and season.
• Damage: one scratched bumper can eat a week's profit through a deductible. Careful loading and photo inspections protect pay.
• Getting paid: dealers and brokers pay on their own terms; slow payers cost you cash flow. Check payment history before you book.
• Loading time: four stops to fill a trailer can take a full day; that time doesn't pay by the mile.

Rules that cost money if ignored

Every vehicle of 10,000 lb or less needs at least two tiedowns, front and rear Source, and a roadside violation on a full trailer delays every car on it. Height has no federal limit and each state sets its own Source, so a tall pickup on the top deck can make a loaded stinger illegal in one state and fine in the next. Rigs that pass 26,001 lb with a trailer rated over 10,000 lb need a Class A CDL. Source

Car hauling training and the learning curve

Pay in the first months is usually lower than later, because loading is slower and mistakes cost more. A 3-car wedge is a gentler start than a 9-car stinger, where deck positions, ramp angles and clearances take practice. Training is offered by some carriers and private schools; ask who pays, how long it runs and whether you owe it back if you leave. Intercity Lines states that new drivers who need training pay for it. Source

Car haulers vs other driving jobs

For comparison, see how much long haul truckers make and how much heavy haulers make. The car hauling pages that pair with this one are car hauling cost, from the shipper's side, and how car hauler loads are booked. Run any load through the car hauler load profit calculator.

A note from our desk: we stopped dispatching car haulers in October 2026, so this guide is information only. If you run a hotshot, flatbed or another rig on our list, we find and negotiate the loads and call you before booking. See how truck dispatch works, browse our hauling guides or start at the GearLoads home page.