Just Wanna Be Successful... What does it take in the L/P game to win... Lol

OOIDA will let you fax them the copy of lease or contract to make payments on your truck, they will take the time to point out any (hold harmless clause) an other rip off statements in your lease, if the trucking CO. you are working with wont give out copy of lease before arriving on the bus do not waste any more time with that CO.

 

. You do not get rich on L/P deals. Some guys barely scrape by. If you truly want your own truck, save your money. Buy one. Do not go through a L/P deal. Buy your truck (Lone Mountain has deals for new O/O) and lease it on to a good company like Landstar. Then get your own authority. L/P isn't for you to become successful. It's for the companies' bottom lines.

 

I'm happy to tell you its a bad idea.

I'll pleasantly remind you to save and buy or finance your own truck.

I'll positively remind you the failure rate is high.

And cheerily listen to folks tell me I'm a L/P 'basher'.

However, I have a masters degree in using a calculator, and can show you the money, or lack thereof - in any 'deal'.

 

The odds of becoming successful with a lease purchase is definitely stacked against you. If you have made up your mind to lease a truck rather than save and buy one, I do have a few suggestions. First, read over any contract very carefully. Make sure the contract provides for you to actually own the truck at some point. Some of these contracts are for a straight lease with no provisions for ownership. OOIDA does have a spreadsheet on their website for lease operators. You can download their spreadsheet and plug in your own numbers. Any lease should list all deductions. I would expect about $900/week before fuel.

Doing a lease purchase will require that you not take time off if you want to make it work. You need to basically live in the truck until it is paid off. I have a friend who did a lease and took a week off a couple of times. It took him several weeks to get back to profitability. Remember, those lease payments and subsequent costs continue whether the truck is moving or not. He had weeks when he did not have any income due to taking time off.

It would also be best for you to have money set aside in case of an emergency. Trucks break down, leased or not. Even new trucks will break down.

 

It is not a start up business, you are taking on all the truck expenses so the carrier can make money even on the weeks you don't. You are buying(?) a job that pays less than a company driver and you get no bennies. Ask the company how many complete their lease purchase, my guess is less than 5%. Also ask their turnover rate, probably over 100%
Most LP deals work on paper based on 3000+ miles a week 52 weeks a year. Very few can hold up to that kind of work.

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if you lease to a good company like landstar or mercer, why would you then automatically recommend getting ones own authority?? is that what you have done?

 

I worded it wrong, lol. it was merely a suggestion, like showing Steps. No, I have not done it, I would love to but it's not in the cards for me, someone (not me) spends too much and I cannot trust that somebody to not put me in a place of peril financially.