My lease adventure

I know that here we can't bag on grammar and spelling. When I read some of the "my lease failed cause xxxxx company screwed me" threads it makes me wonder about comprehension. Did that guy understand his lease? Did he do the math?

I'm not saying you have to have a college degree to run a business, but I don't feel you can blindly run through this business and expect to do well.

 

I have learned in this business you really can't count on anything.
$6600 is no doubt my biggest week and I would agree with your classification of it being a "fluke." I have had 3 checks in excess of $4000 and many in excess of $3000. All the same I count the $6600 in my averages just as I count the $0 checks when I am at home as I am now.

If I left that week out of my averages I'm still at over $1600 per week.

 

Let me clarify a point. When I say 3 checks in excess of $4000 I mean more than $4000 but less than $5000. Outside of the $6600 check my biggest was $4300.

 

The % does not change for the type of lease I have. Basically when you lease at my company your first lease (rental) is 52 weeks. There are no other options. When you complete that lease the options open up. Lease purchase used truck, lease purchase new truck, lease used, lease new or finanance new.

I will ill get a higher % at that point, but only because your pay increases after a year.

I don't know about the payments for lease vs lease purchase. I can ask around, but that's never really been a concern of mine.

I do pay for breakdowns and fuel. My truck has the remaining warranty from peterbilt, for another 200,000 miles, and I have a maintenance acct as well.

Keep in mind EVERYONE pays for breakdowns. Including company drivers. You may not pay for parts and repairs, but you pay for it with time which is very costly. My last company driver job paid $75 breakdown after the first 24 hours. Means I sat 48 hours before earning $75. I could have made much more driving, so to me the difference is the same as a payment.

I cant tell you what the right path is. I don't know you or your company. I can however tell you what steps I took in deciding to lease.

When I first starting considering a lease, not current company btw, I would call the leasing dept every week to get the FSC for that week and always checked with the fuel desk on what the OO discount was at my fuel stops. Using these numbers I would calculate my earning potential as a LO and compare that to my company check. I did this for 3 months.

In that 3 months I also experimented with shifting and road speeds for my best fuel economy. I also bought a scan gauge and really tweaked my driving habits to get the best mpg.

When I took hometime I kept the payments going. Decided how quickly I could get in the hole and more to the point how quick I could get out of the hole.

At the end of my 3 months I took my real pay stubs and my pretend pay stubs to a certified tax accountant and had him do my numbers.

My last step was to procure a copy of the lease. I read it front to back several times. Bugged my companies lease dept with questions. I made sure I understood exactly what I was getting into and how to get out of it if things went south.

 

Making $900 to $1500 a week is great. I wouldn't lease cause the additional income wouldn't be worth the added responsibility. I think managing your money, cutting expenses and being disciplined with spending is your best bet and you realize that as well.