To Lease on or not ???

I always liked being leased. That way you can use the carriers cash flow, sales department permit people and take advantage of their fuel discounts and whatever else. Plus I believe the carriers try to keep the rates up as much as they can.Some excellent carriers that I have been with and have friends leased on with are Packard Transport Channahan Il, and Mercer transportation, Louisville, Ky.Some of my friends do well with CRST- Malone and some are leased on with Kaplan. Now if you want to make a lot of money and work hard Art Pape Transfer is the place to be,but they operate quite a bit different than most other carriers. Pape has top notch trailers (which they want you to pull)and a real nice terminal in Dubuque ,Ia.Plus they are good people and they have good operators and they do try to keep the rates up.

 

Trying to hit Cpape up for a raise. lol

 

Keep track of the trucks expenses for three months, included your wages.

My figures suggest that if your making say, 40cpm that you will lose money in a o/o program at 98com. You may find your actually better off as a company driver. At 27 percent in the cement industry I was making more than Christine could even come close to. I had to leave that job because of a rollover. Our I would still be there, in this area jobs are plentiful at pay decent.

 

Companies to lease onto are mercer, long haul (out of Minnesota), or a local/ regional flatbed company. Companies to lease from Sammons.

 

Scania143 do your research, your insurance costs will not just go away. You will pay for them in other places. You already have your own authority and work the schedule the way you want, that will vanish. I'm not saying don't lease on, I am not a fan of leasing, but if you really want to lease on to a carrier please do your homework and make a deal that is the best for you. Leasing on to companies would not be so popular if companies weren't making a killing off of drivers. You will still be consuming all the risks and doing all the work. Leasing is good for guys still learning the business, but if you've been working the load boards for years you already know how to do the whole job, you don't need them, They need you. I'm not saying leasing is the worst thing ever invented. There are good leases out there you just need to find the one that works for you. One piece of advise that you should seriously consider is holding on to your authority. The costs are minimal, and this way if you hate your lease you can always go back to what you have now. If you love the lease then let it go later on. I just don't want you to drink the cool aid and then realize later you made a mistake.

 

I did just this exact thing. Pulled so much for Mercer, and always treated so well, I leased onto them. I also run like you, out for ten days or so then back home for a week. My net actually went up due to costs going down, and access to better paying loads. down here in Florida I just couldn't find enough steady, good paying, direct customers to really take advantage of having my own numbers.