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Dump truck drivers are in demand on just about every kind of construction site. Most dump truck drivers learn how to operate the rigs on the job in small areas where they can’t do much harm. Builders require truck drivers to hold a CDL to prove they know the basics of gear shifting and truck handling. Various truck-driving schools include training in dump trucks, as well as semis and other vehicles

Set the seat appropriately so that you can easily reach all the gears and pedals. Arrange the mirrors to make sure you have a full view to the back of the truck bed.

Step on the clutch and the brake as you turn the key in the ignition. Move the shifter into first gear. Release the clutch slowly as you apply pressure to the gas pedal. Shift out of first gear as soon as the truck starts moving. Move into third gear when you get to about 10 or 15 mph. Fourth gear will only be needed when driving on a road at more than 35 mph.

Make sure the bed of the truck is completely lowered before driving the truck. Even if you aren’t leaving the job site, accidents can happen while the bed is raised. Low-hanging wires can be hit or rocks and debris left in the truck can fly out and break something or hit another worker. Utilize a watcher when backing up to avoid accidents, as well.

Bring the truck to a level area or on a slight hill with the front of the truck pointed upwards. Leave the truck and unhook the tailgate. Return to the cab and use the hand lever beside the stick shift to release the truck bed. Press the button that starts the hydraulic motion to lift the bed of the truck and empty the load. Put the truck into low gear and move it forward very slowly if the load gets stuck in the tailgate.

Cover the load when driving on the road to avoid flying debris that could cause an accident. When on the road, drive at or below the speed limit. Dump trucks are not designed for speed and can easily tip on curves.

Auto transport jobs are found through a variety of venues. Classified advertising, referrals from car dealers, bidding sites and relocation companies are all utilized by cross-country auto haulers. Customers may request shippers that specialize in racecars, antique and collectible cars, or loads with multiple vehicles. Individuals moving often are in need of an auto transporter.

Consider the competition, your time and the price of fuel when bidding on auto transport jobs. When you are new in the business and haven’t yet built a reputation, you may need to underbid the competition to win jobs. Prepare to earn less in the beginning, knowing that your willingness to cut your profit at first will pay off as you develop a steady clientele and regular referrals.

Register with a website that acts as a third-party matching service. Individuals and businesses that need their autos hauled post their requirements and transporters may bid on the job. Many sites sell their services on a commission basis while others are fee-based. Find A Hauler charges transporters $20 a month, or $160 a year, to view the listed requests for haulers. They claim to post more than 60,000 jobs per month.

Utilize shipping brokers that charge a commission for every job you receive through them if they can provide regular quality leads. Shipping boards, such as U Ship, don’t charge a membership fee, but instead operate on a commission basis once you’ve won a bid from their site.

List your accomplishments, years in service, amount of insurance coverage you provide with every load and any training or certificates you might hold. Include any guarantees you’re willing to offer, such as time of delivery, cleanliness of car at delivery and no hidden charges. List any association affiliations in organization, such as the American Trucking Association.

Look for the reasons that you lost a bid. Respectfully ask the referring agent or the client why they chose another carrier over you. This is a good time to gather information to fine tune your bidding procedures and add services or change the wording on your bids to become more successful at landing good jobs.

Car haulers transport vehicles to various locations throughout the country. Car haulers operate different equipment depending on customer requirements. Car haulers can operate a standard semi-truck or may use a pickup truck to haul loads. Car haulers may own their own equipment, which can be leased to an auto carrier company, or use equipment provided by their employer.

10-Car Open Carrier
This is the most common type of carrier for transporting automobiles and offers the most job opportunities for car haulers. Car haulers use a semi-truck attached to a dual-level, 10-car carrier to move vehicles to their destination. Many times, the cars are from different customers and final delivery will include more than one destination that are often residential areas where unloading may be difficult. Car haulers load and unload the vehicles and protect them from damage or inclement weather during the transport.

Hot Shot
Some customers or private owners may only want to ship three or four vehicles to a specific destination. These loads are typically hauled by “hot shot” drivers who specialize in smaller loads known as “less than truckloads,” or LTLs. LTLs are defined as shipments weighing less than 10,000 lbs. Most hot shot transporters are heavy-duty pickup trucks or dually trucks that can carry heavier loads. Hot shot drivers typically work with a broker to obtain loads and find deliveries to return to their homes.

Enclosed Car Hauler
Drivers operating enclosed car haulers are employed by individuals and businesses interested in providing the most protection for their vehicles. Drivers may be transporting classic or antique cars that are expensive and need to arrive in pristine condition, and some race car companies use enclosed car haulers to transport their race cars to events. Generally, loads on enclosed car haulers cost more to the customer than the open carrier or hot shot loads. Enclosed car hauler drivers can haul one or two cars.

Flatbed Carrier
Drivers who haul flatbed carriers typically haul trucks or recreational vehicles that can’t fit onto an open car hauler or inside an enclosed trailer. Flatbeds can be pulled by a semi- or pickup truck depending on the amount of weight hauled. Flatbed carriers have to strap down their loads and load and unload the carrier. Most flatbed loads contain a single vehicle, but some customers may include other cargo on the load because of the high price of using a flatbed carrier.

Diesel engines can run on three basic types of fuel: petroleum diesel, biodiesel, and straight vegetable oil (SVO). Diesel fuel produces carbon dioxide, pollution, particulates and sulfur emissions and increases reliance on foreign oil because it comes from petroleum. Any diesel engine can run on biodiesel. Biodiesel is a clean-burning fuel made from domestic, renewable plant sources, such as oils from vegetables, peanuts, soy beans, canola/grape seeds, hemp seeds and some grains. It has undergone the process of transesterification, a simple chemical modification of ordinary vegetable oil that makes the fuel usable in diesel engines and keeps it from thickening at colder temperatures.

Start with a modern diesel engine. Nearly any newer diesel engine can be converted to run on vegetable oil as long as it doesn’t have rubber seals in its fuel system (only older diesels use rubber seals). The rubber seals will deteriorate when exposed to vegetable oil over time because vegetable oil acts as a solvent.

Install a vegetable oil fuel conversion kit or have a mechanic do it. You should keep the original gas tank to hold regular diesel or biodiesel fuel for cold weather. Install a second tank for vegetable oil; these sometimes go in the trunk. The conversion kit should include hoses from the car’s radiator to the vegetable oil tank to heat the oil via a heat exchanger before it enters the final fuel filter and injectors inside the engine compartment.

Get vegetable oil. New vegetable oil is easiest to acquire but very expensive. Restaurants will often give you their waste oil for free. Chinese and Japanese restaurants are best because their oils comes out cleanest. The oil should be amber in color. Oil from other types of rest restaurants may also be suitable but could require more filtering to remove food particles. You will need a few containers for transferring the oil from the source to your filtering destination. The five gallon jugs that the restaurants receive the fresh oil in work fine. Restaurants are usually happy to give you these containers since it saves them disposal fees.

Filter the oil. Use filter bags that are rated to 0.5 microns thick. To increase the life of your filter bags, first allow the oil to sit in a barrel for about a week to let particulate matter settle to the bottom. Then, pump or scoop the oil into a filter bag suspended above a fresh empty barrel from the top of the barrel (since most of the food particles matter and possible water is at the bottom). Start your engine using regular diesel or biodiesel fuel from the normal gas tank. Once the engine and vegetable oil are warm (after about 15 minutes depending on weather), switch to allow the vegetable oil to flow into the fuel source.

Switch back to diesel or biodiesel a few minutes before you stop your engine for any time (about 10 minutes depending on the temperature) to make sure the vegetable oil is purged from the fuel line and injectors so that they don’t become clogged when the engine cools.

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If you are contemplating earning a commercial driver’s License in order to become a truck driver, there are several factors to consider, including what type of trailer you will be working with. There are several different types of freight trailers, each with their own features and requirements. Learning about the various semi-trailers on the road will help you prepare for and select the best CDL job for you.

Dry Vans
Dry vans are the most common type of freight trailers hauled by commercial trucking companies. Dry vans are the “box” type trailers used to transport general commodities. There are several subtypes of dry vans as well. A curtain side van is a type of dry van with sides made of heavy fabric. You can move the curtains, allowing easier loading while protecting the load from the elements better than a flatbed trailer might. Refrigerator vans, commonly called reefers, are another type of dry van. These trailers require special fuel and have thermostats to control the temperature for perishable freight. No special CDL endorsements are required to pull a dry van trailer, unless you want to haul tandem trailers. If so, you will need a “Doubles/Triples” CDL endorsement.

Tankers
Tankers are tank-shaped freight trailers used to haul liquid, gas or dry bulk freight. If you wish to drive a commercial tank truck in the U.S., you must apply for and receive a special “Tanker” endorsement on your CDL. This endorsement will allow you to haul dry bulk or liquids in a tanker, such as milk, juice or grain. To drive a tanker carrying fuel or other hazardous materials, you will also need a “Hazardous Materials” endorsement, which includes fingerprinting and a background check as well as an extra exam.

Flatbeds
Flatbeds are another type of freight trailer commonly used in the transportation industry. These trailers consist of a flat bed with no sides. Flatbeds are often used to haul building materials, heavy machinery and over-sized freight that would not fit into a dry van trailer. There are a few flatbed subtypes, such as lowboy and drop-deck trailers. These trailers have lower beds than standard flatbeds, making them easier to load with very heavy items such as construction equipment. Drivers must strap freight onto flatbeds and are often required to cover cargo with a tarp as well. While there are no special CDL endorsements needed to haul a flatbed, securing loads is a highly time- and labor-intensive undertaking.

Dump Trailers
Construction companies and related businesses often use dump trailers to haul aggregates, such as rock, gravel and sand. Other types of freight hauled in dump trailers include produce direct from the grower, such as potatoes or fruits. End-dump trailers have hydraulic lifts and dump the freight out the rear of the trailer. Belly-dump trailers, also called bottom-dump trailers, have an opening in the bottom of the trailer from which freight is dropped. No special CDL endorsements are required to pull a dump trailer, unless you want to haul tandem trailers. If so, you will need a “Doubles/Triples” CDL endorsement.

Government agencies will often require surety bonds to be posted for occupations where an individual is granted a higher level of responsibility. For example, most states require private investigators, process servers and title agents to post surety bonds in order to keep their license in good standing. A surety bond is essentially an unsecured insurance policy and can be drawn against should your actions damage another (physically or financially).

Determine the amount of coverage required by the institution requiring the surety bond. Also, be sure to determine whether the surety bond or power of attorney needs to be notarized, and the location to submit or “post” the bond. This information can typically be found on the institution’s website or by contacting them directly.

Contact a surety broker to apply for a surety bond. Many brokers are available, each with varying rates, so be sure to shop around for the best price.

Complete the application and return it to the broker. The broker will return a quote for the cost of the bond, typically within 48 hours. Several factors go into the price of the bond, but the most important factors are your line of work and credit history. Depending on these factors, rates can very from 1 to 15 percent of the total surety bond value annually.

Pay the fee assessed by the broker in order to be issued the surety bond. Brokers typically accept payment in the form of cash, check, money order or credit card. The original surety bond and original power of attorney will be mailed to you once payment has been received.

Do not sign the documents until you are absolutely certain that they are not required to be notarized. If they need to be notarized, take them to a notary prior to posting.

Take the surety bond and original power of attorney to the institution and post the bond. Sign the document (if not already signed and notary is not required) and give the bond to the institution representative.

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A surety bond functions as a guarantee in a business transaction. The surety bond company works with the principal, or person guaranteeing to perform work, to establish a bond amount. When you hire a person or contractor who offers a surety bond to you as a guarantee of completing the project, you can feel more secure entering into the transaction. However, if the principal does not meet his obligations, you have to file a claim, which may be approved or denied.

How the Bonds Work
To obtain a surety bond, the principal must apply with a surety bond agent. The agent either approves or denies the principal’s bond. Once approved, the principal agrees to pay a set premium amount to the surety bond company. The principal will communicate with you that he has established a bond and give you a copy of the bond paperwork. The bonding company does not agree to pay for claims, but rather the bond functions as a type of credit. If the principal defaults on the bond and you file an approved claim, the company pays and obtains the money back from the principal.

Types and Benefits
There are many types of surety bonds, but the three most common types of bonds are the bid bond, the performance bond and the payment bond. When you hire a company with a surety bond, you have the assurance that the project will be completed on time, give yourself another layer of financial security and help assure you and your organization that you are hiring well-qualified contractors who are capable of getting a surety bond.

Claim Process
If the principal person named on the surety bond does not fulfill his obligation to you, you or your company can file a surety bond claim. The company who issued the surety bond will investigate the claim, and will pay the damages up to the value of the bond if the company agrees with the claim. The surety bond company then communicates with the principal on the surety bond to receive payment for the claim. The surety company can refuse payment on the bond, and you must then contact the company yourself or through your attorney to request payment.

Claim Denial
A strongly worded letter or threatened lawsuit from your attorney may be enough to cause the surety bond company to approve the claim, provided you have complied with all the requirements on the bond and are able to prove that you did not receive the services or payments promised. However, a Virginia court case in 2007 examined whether the bond obligation was null if the claimant did not file notice in a timely manner. The court ruled in favor of the surety company, because the claimant did not follow the notification process laid out in the bond.

Considerations
When using a surety bond during a contractual process, make certain you have your attorney review the language of the bond. Make note of deadlines for claims, types of contractual breaches covered and how claims are processed and researched. If you cannot afford an attorney, and the amount of the surety bond falls under the small claims court limit in your state, you may file a breach of contract case with the small claims court in your local court.