How much do car haulers make? As an owner-operator, you are running a business, so the honest answer comes in two numbers: what you gross and what you keep. ZipRecruiter puts average gross pay for car hauler owner-operators at about $228,575 a year, with the 25th percentile at $125,000 and the 75th at $340,000, as cited by Super Dispatch in early 2026. That is gross, before a single expense, so an owner operator car hauler salary in the usual sense does not exist. Your pay is whatever the business keeps.
Where you land depends on your trailer, your region and how many paid miles you run. The rest of this guide explains car hauler income through the number that matters most day to day: what you earn per mile.
Gross versus net: what comes out of the check
Gross is what brokers and shippers pay you. Net is what is left after you run the truck. The gap is large.
For a benchmark on net, ATBS, an accounting firm for owner-operators, reported average owner-operator net income of $71,808 for 2025 across its clients, up 0.5% from the year before. Its average client ran about 95,000 miles. That figure covers trucking in general, not car hauling specifically, but it shows how far net sits below the gross numbers above.
On the cost side, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) found it cost an average of $2.336 per mile to run a Class 8 truck in 2025, a record. That total includes driver wages and benefits, which for you as an owner-operator is mostly your own pay. Without fuel, costs were $1.854 per mile. ATRI’s data covers for-hire carriers across all freight, so treat it as a reference point, not a car hauler budget.
Here is what comes out of your gross:
| Cost | What it looks like | Reference figure |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | Your biggest variable cost | ATRI: $0.48/mile in 2025. ATBS clients: about $0.50/mile |
| Truck and trailer payments | Fixed, owed whether you haul or not | ATRI: $0.40/mile in 2025 |
| Repair and maintenance | Rises as equipment ages | ATRI: $0.22/mile in 2025 |
| Insurance | Cargo and liability; higher for new authorities | ATRI: $0.11/mile in 2025 (all freight) |
| Tolls | Depends heavily on your lanes | ATRI: $0.043/mile in 2025 |
| Load board subscriptions | Monthly fees for Central Dispatch, Super Dispatch and others | Varies by plan |
| Dispatch fee | Usually a percentage of each load, if you use a dispatcher | Varies by service |
| Factoring | Fee for getting paid now instead of waiting on terms | Super Dispatch cites 3–5% at traditional factoring companies |
| Taxes | Self-employment tax plus income tax | Depends on your situation |
Fuel deserves a closer look right now. The EIA’s U.S. average on-highway diesel price was $6.382 a gallon on September 28, 2026, which is $2.628 higher than a year earlier. ATRI’s 2025 fuel figure was set at much lower prices, so your fuel cost per mile today is likely well above it.
Insurance for car haulers also runs differently from general freight because of cargo values. Our car hauler insurance guide covers that in detail.
Why rate per mile beats a weekly number
Most talk about car hauler pay is in weekly numbers. A weekly gross tells you how busy you were. It does not tell you whether the work paid.
The same trailer can gross twice as much running over the road as it does staying local. Local and regional work involves more loading, more stops and more waiting, so you cover fewer miles in a day even when each mile pays well. A long run puts many miles under the wheels, but each one pays less.
Rate per mile lets you compare those weeks fairly. Take everything the truck earned and divide by every mile it ran, loaded and empty. Then compare that number to your own cost per mile. If the gap does not leave room to pay yourself, the lane is not working, no matter how good the weekly total looked.
Car hauler rates per mile by trip length
Super Dispatch published average rates from its 2025 network data, which covers nearly 10 million vehicle shipments. These are what shipments paid per mile, measured per order. They are not per truck and not per car, since one order can include more than one vehicle.
| Trip length | Average rate per shipment-mile (2025) |
|---|---|
| Under 100 miles | $5.14 |
| 100–500 miles | $2.35 |
| 500–1,000 miles | $1.82 |
| Over 1,000 miles | $0.85 |
Two things stand out. First, short hauls pay far more per mile, because loading time and stops are spread over fewer miles. Second, Super Dispatch reports long-haul volume grew 42% in 2025 while long-haul per-mile rates fell 6%, which it attributes to more trucks competing on those lanes.
Be careful with “car shipping cost per mile” articles you find online. Most are written for consumers and show what a shipper pays a broker, which is a different number from what reaches the carrier.
How the trailer type changes the math
Car hauling rates are quoted per car. Your truck’s rate per mile is the sum of every car on the trailer. A full trailer multiplies the per-car rate; an empty slot is revenue you carried the cost of without getting paid for.
That is why trailer size shapes your earning ceiling:
- 2-car enclosed. Enclosed loads pay a premium, but you carry only two cars. Super Dispatch reports enclosed was a bit over 3% of orders on its network by late 2025, so the premium comes with a smaller pool of loads.
- 3-car open (hotshot). A pickup or dually with a wedge trailer. Lower equipment and fuel costs, and it fits well on regional runs where short-haul per-mile rates are strong.
- 4–5 car. More cars per trip on a still-modest setup. Filling every slot gets harder as capacity grows.
- 7–8 car. A tractor and full car carrier. Much more revenue per trip, with much higher payments, fuel and insurance.
- 9-car stinger. The highest capacity and the highest fixed costs. Running it partly empty hurts more than on any smaller rig.
Super Dispatch offers rough planning estimates of net income by setup: around $55,000 to $110,000 a year for many 2–3 car operators, and around $70,000 to $150,000 or more for many single-truck 7–9 car operators. It labels these as directional estimates, not guarantees. Bigger equipment raises the ceiling, but it also raises what a bad week costs you.
What moves car hauling rates
- Route and region. Some lanes have more cars than trucks, others the reverse. Super Dispatch reports 2025 demand grew 27% in the Northeast, 19% in the West, 17% in the South and 14% in the Midwest.
- Season. Snowbird season pushes cars south in the fall and north in the spring. Auction volume and dealer demand shift through the year. Super Dispatch says many lanes run 30–40% slower from November through February.
- Vehicle type. Inoperable vehicles need a winch and more time. Oversized vehicles take extra space. Enclosed loads pay more for more care.
- Pickup and delivery locations. Rural addresses, tight city streets and residential deliveries take longer than a dealer lot or auction yard, and that time belongs in the price.
- Payment terms. A load that pays on delivery is worth more than the same rate on 30-day terms, especially if you would factor it.
- How fast the load is booked. The best-paying loads go first. In our experience at One Two Dispatch, loads still on the board ten minutes after posting pay about 20% less than loads booked the moment they post.
For where loads are posted and how the main boards compare, see our guide to car hauler load boards.
What separates high-grossing carriers
The carriers who gross the most per mile tend to do the same few things well.
They run full. Every empty slot is a lower truck rate per mile. They build loads to fill the trailer before they leave.
They keep deadhead low. Empty miles cost fuel and wear and pay nothing. A good rate into a dead area can lose money once you count the drive out.
They book fast. The best loads on a busy lane are taken within minutes. Someone has to be watching the boards to catch them.
They arrange the backhaul before delivery. Planning the next load while the current one is still on the trailer cuts the wait and the empty miles after you unload.
They protect their broker ratings. On-time pickups, clean inspections and good communication get you better loads and better terms from the same brokers over time.
Find out what loads pay on your lanes
One Two Dispatch works only with car haulers. Our team watches Central Dispatch, Super Dispatch and other boards about ten hours a day with our own alert tools and books loads the moment they post.
We do not promise weekly earnings. On the first call, we give you an estimate per mile for your lanes, based on your trailer and where you run.
Our fee is a percentage of each load, based on what the load pays: 7% under $1,000, 6% for $1,000–$2,000, 5% for $2,001–$3,000 and 4% over $3,000. There is no monthly or setup fee. There is no forced dispatch, the first week is a free trial, you can cancel anytime, and brokers pay you directly.
Apply here to find out what loads pay per mile on your lanes.
Sources
- Super Dispatch: How Much Do Owner-Operator Car Haulers Make in 2026?
- ATBS: How Did Owner-Operators Perform in 2025?
- FleetOwner: ATRI report breaks down Class 8 truck operating costs by region and expense category
- Trucking Info: ATRI average truck operating cost reaches record $2.336 per mile
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update