I am 41. Live about an hour from Chattanooga Tennessee. I am a company driver for a mega with 6 months experience. Wife teaches school and we have a 3 year old. We don't have a lot of bills but our income isn't growing either. Wife is supportive with any choice I make. There is zero work for me where we live so I either commute an hour each way every day to work in Chattanooga where the cost of fuel and the second car eat up some of my pay or I drive a truck OTR. I chose driving. I am 24 days out, 4 home at .34/mile. I do want to be home more in the future. Ideally I would like to be out Monday morning and back in Friday afternoon with the truck coming with me. I am will to get 2 years experience to get into a scenario like this. Also, I want my income to grow in that time. Do I stay a company driver? Do I lease/purchase? Is there some other options to consider? Please give your advice. Thank you!
What would you do in my situation?
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by b l a c k b e a r d, Oct 29, 2014.
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In my opinion:
You aren't ready to lease/purchase..
and the Monday-Friday scenario you describe after 2 years will be very easy to accomplish.
(although the home by 5pm every Friday and all weekend off with a Mon morn leaveout probably wont happen..
as far as your income increasing between now/then?..Drive faster. -
I am a company driver on a dedicated account... I leave out Monday morining and get back Friday evening... Saturday morning at the latest....
I think it is wise to hold off on the lease/Purchase dream until you get quite a bit of experience...Puppage, ROBERTCADAMS and OPUS 7 Thank this. -
If you plan on being successful at a lease purchase you need to be out MORE. Not less. Stay company. Get your time in then go local
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[h=2] What would you do in my situation?[/h]
out of curiosity, where is one hour from 'nooga actually located? if it is in ga., i know of outfits that get you home on the weekends in addition to truly driving a truck as in no elogs,no qualcomm,no castrated truck.you'll need an in shape mvr however- -
I live in NW PA, off most of the company's major freight lanes, and have missed only two weekends at my house in the last six months unless I asked to stay out (only did that twice, too. Not worth it for me).
You being in Chattanooga makes it a bit easier for load planners to get you home. If they can do it for me way up here, you shouldn't have any issues. And my weekends? Normally home in time for dinner Friday, don't leave out til Monday morning....
Who says trucking needs to destroy your home life? -
As far as lease purchasing, you should be telling him to forget about the lease, save and set aside money, and focus on purchasing.
Why is lease purchasing still such a fanatasy after all this time and the thousands of drivers getting screwed.
The feds stepped in and cracked down on banks for tye housing catastrophe in 2007...In my opinion 99% of lease purchases are just a scam to get a driver with stars in his eyes to make the bosses truck payment for him.
Heck I like my boss, but I would never leasr purchase from him, unless I had at least $50,000 laying around to throw at a new truck and get my payments down to a somewhat manageable level.
Save a good chunk of money if you want to think about buying a truck.
Sign a lease contract penniless and that is exactly how you will stay.OPUS 7, HalpinUout, bigdogpile and 1 other person Thank this. -
Several companies have weekends at home or almost every weekend.
Stay a company driver and fully invest in a 401K so you can live the good life at an early age.
Best in your situation is go for tanker/hazmat; make good money and be home often. Rogers Cartage in Chattanooga would work in your situation.
Transport National in Winchester.
Cardinal Logistics
Maverick
If you insist on becoming an 0/0 then look at Cardinal Logistics and Farm2Fleet in Chattanooga. I don't recommend this though with no more experience than you have.Last edited: Oct 29, 2014
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Its quite possible with a lease purchase you'd aquire another wife much more demanding of your presence. perhaps a dedicated acount would wotk out as a compromse until.. some are happy doing a dedicated on a l/p
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Go ahead and get at least your two years as a company driver. Use that time to dig a bit more into O/O possibilities. Forget the lease crap. Good luck.
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