So you want to "own " your own company

If it has a caterpillar motor with a dpf on it do not buy it.

 

Not trying to ask a crazy or stupid question but what would be the down side to leasing a truck out or just getting a loan for one. I know their is a lot to do with being a owner operator with insurance for the truck insurance for the load weekly truck payments was just wanting some insight on this.

 

If you are talking about signing into a lease purchase agreement with a company without a buyout such as Stevens does or a lease with buyout option. Most of those leases are not in the drivers best interest. If intend to enter into a lease program then I would have OOIDA's legal department look at it first. My advice is if you have the down payment and a funding source, buy a good used truck. Lease on to a good carrier that pays percentage of the load revenue. If you are making payments on a truck then I would hire onto a company like Landstar that owns their trailers and you lease to them tractor only. Then once you have the truck paid off, buy your own trailer and get a higher percentage of the load. I started with Werner and bought a truck from them through their fleet sales. I paid it off in two years now I am switching to an owner operator company and am buying a flat bed from them. I would buy a non-EGR truck so you don't have all the complications and potential breakdowns associated with it. You just can't run California but hey, there's plenty of freight out there. A friend of mine bought an older FL Classic with dry van trailer for 12 grand and he made that the first three weeks. Plenty of options available to you.

 

But what about first time buyers? I don't have experience trying yet, but I hear that lenders are more hesitant to loan them cash on rigs.

 

Everyone has been a first time buyer, and the vast majority of us didn't lease a truck from a carrier.

 

I'm not a big fan of rejection or failure. I wish a truck loan was as easy as proving your work ethic is second to none, but hey, money talks, right?

 

Good credit, experience as a company driver and some cash will do it.

 

After CDL school I went to Werner. After six months as a company driver I bought a 2008 Cascadia from their Fleet Sales and drove for them as an Owner/Operator. They are fairly lenient in qualifying your credit. I had a fairly high debt to income ratio and a couple of late payments on one or two of my credit accounts but the biggest thing is that as a company driver I was always on-time, safe, and no damage claims. My fixed payment was 275 a week with an additional 7 cents per mile going to the payment. I paid it down for two years then went to my bank and borrowed what I needed to pay Werner off so I can go to Mercer and pull flatbed. Werner charged me 11.9 percent APR but the only caveat there is they don't report the activity to the credit bureau. On the plus side though, if you get a POS of a truck, turn in the keys and there is no recourse.

In fairness though, Schneider has a good Owner/Operator lease purchase program also and they operate a contractor load board and will pay percentage of load revenue. They have some good incentives going on right now as well.


Do your homework first, there are a lot of opportunities out there.

 

I want to avoid lease purchase. Thought about it for a minute, but no. I could buy one of my companies old trucks, but they're million milers, and I don't believe they've been rebuilt, and they don't give maintenance records. I think I'll try a Paccar or arrow, then go to lone mountain. Maybe selectrucks if they have a coronado I like. Idk, my biggest thing is that I don't want too many dings on my credit from different companies. Haha

 

Hello All,

I have read with interest all most this entire thread, but remain confused about title and registration. [Edit for clarification: Title and registration as it applies to an OO, not a carrier. Just a straight up multi-unit owner, leased to carrier, no authority/DOT of my own]. If this is not the best place to post, please tell me what is.

Situation - Just purchased a few units to put under lease to a national carrier. Thought I had to title them in my home state (AZ), where I live and where my business address is located. However, I have a carrier telling me that they will take care of title/apportioned plates in a mid-west state. No sales tax on trucks, but they will have titles in a state other than AZ - where I am. Now, I don't particularly care about the state of the title, as long as it's legally titled to me and my company. Trucks will run under carrier authority/DOT - I have no authority/DOT - I'm leasing on power units and buying trailers through carrier.

Question 1 - does the above sound right to anyone or everyone?

Ok, so another opportunity surfaces in home state of AZ. So, I'd title trucks here in AZ, but using carrier's authority/DOT. This also, apparently, incurs state sales tax, even though I bought units out of state (and was not charged sales tax in that state).

Question 2 - Same as #1 - does that sound right? Not sure why I'm paying sales tax in AZ on units I bought out of state. For that matter, not sure why I would not pay sales tax in the first scenario if these are registered in mid west.

So, any OO have a quick tutorial on the best where and how to title vehicles and get the apportioned tags?

Thanks