Our experience with Success Leasing

**Ridgerunner665** · 08.30.2009

Originally Posted by dogbone

I whipped out my calculator and started doing some mathematics.

It doesn't make sense for me to pay $141,696 for a truck (based on $758 payment, taking into account the 16 month reductions) that won't be mine when the lease is finished. The tire fund and mileage charges (based on a 2500 mile week), permits/licenses, flatbed equipment come to just over $60,000. And I don't know what the APU rental comes to but without it the lease is way too rich for my blood.

Thats all anybody needs to do to figure out what to say when asked to lease a truck. (from ANY company, not just Prime)

You pay for it but will never own it, being the bottom line.

**LandShark** · 08.30.2009

I have a friend of mine who is in that lease program with Prime. He pulls a refer trailer. We talk weekly and he tells me that he is doing real well with Prime. He runs as a solo driver and he WILL go up the East Coast even though he doesnt like it...BUT he goes...he doesnt turn down loads and has only been late for delivery 1 time in 3 years..does this have any bearing on the situation...I AM NOT SURE...Is he telling me the truth about it..I see no reason why he would lie to me...
BTW he is single no kids and basicaly his truck is his home..he has a cascadia...didnt spring for the High Dollar Petes.

**Gitty** · 08.30.2009

billsgirl

Back in the 90's I worked for another company. A few friends and I were watching Prime very closely. Because they had some pretty trucks out there. Anyhow, we watched 1 truck be lease out to 17 different teams of drivers. One after another loosing their shirts on it. I talked to these teams and they were running hard, watching their speed, fueling & tolls, doing any maintenance or repairs themselves, eating out of their truck, watching their money. And all of a sudden the miles just dropped. I wish your "bill" all the luck in the world with this and hope this ain't whats going on. But it cured me of thinking about it.

**ironpony** · 08.30.2009

Leasing has some advantages... part of that lease payment is insurance on the tractor - so it's not like an apples-to-apples comparison with a sale. There is an ACE-II lease where you end up owning the tractor after the three year period as well. The lease payments are 100% deductible on your taxes as a business expense, but you can't do that if you're buying a machine.

It does mean you're driving a vehicle that will always be under warranty.

You do have to have a plan. Drivers who jump in unprepared, and figure that the weekly settlement check is the same thing as a "paycheck" will loose their shirts.

There are no guarantees in terms of loads - and miles don't count - it's gross revenue to the truck that counts on a lease with Prime.

I also know plenty of drivers who are doing well with Prime leases - the teams are doing well, solos are struggling.

**billsgirl** · 08.31.2009

Originally Posted by LandShark

I have a friend of mine who is in that lease program with Prime. He pulls a refer trailer. We talk weekly and he tells me that he is doing real well with Prime. He runs as a solo driver and he WILL go up the East Coast even though he doesnt like it...BUT he goes...he doesnt turn down loads and has only been late for delivery 1 time in 3 years..does this have any bearing on the situation...I AM NOT SURE...Is he telling me the truth about it..I see no reason why he would lie to me...
BTW he is single no kids and basicaly his truck is his home..he has a cascadia...didnt spring for the High Dollar Petes.

We went for an 07 Century with one year left on the lease. Im glad your friend is doing well! I wish we could say the same. This will be week 9 without a paycheck. Also I believe quarterly taxes are due in September. Yay!!! If he hasn't been getting a paycheck, I don't know if he has to pay taxes on the gross anyway. Who knows, the point is we don't have money to pay them. We live in the truck too. No apt or house, everything in storage. All we have is a storage bill and a cell phone bill and the phone will be shut off soon. It sucks. I actually enjoy the trucking life and don't mind living in small quarters with the man I love. We work well together and with all the financial risk one assumes when signing a lease, it is not unreasonable in my mind to expect to get paid once in awhile. I understand a negative week or two here or there, but 9 in a row? Sometimes I wonder if getting dispatched out of Pittston rather than Springfield makes any difference. Anyone you ask at Prime says it does not but when everything has gotten so bad through no fault of our own you start wondering. He doesn't turn down loads and he is on time, and he is a safe driver. He has gone so far as to talk to the operations mgr who was no help. Thought maybe calling him to express concern would result in a few good runs but no such luck. Thank you to everyone who has responded to this thread. It means so much to me! People who dont understand the trucking industry can't really wrap their heads around all that lease talk and their eyes glaze over when I start talking about deadhead miles and linehaul, fuel surcharge, etc....It's so good to have intelligent people who know where we are coming from to offer advice, etc.

**BoostedTeg** · 08.31.2009

I know PRIME INC has the walk away lease. Can you and bill switch over to company side of things instead of leasing.

**stranger** · 08.31.2009

I have never worked for Prime, and don't know anyone personally who does. That being said, I have read on here in the past where several L/Os that thought they were getting shoddy loads out of Pittston, and eventually got changed to Springfiels, and things seemed to improve.

It has been a while since I read this, and I am pretty sure of the story. It's worth a shot. No one can live on negative paychecks.

**billsgirl** · 08.31.2009

Well, we have talked about it, but he started out company and really wasn't getting the miles so that factored into us switching to lease. I am kinda in favor of him switching back and then just "shut up and drive" and get the experience under his belt (he has a little over 15 months now) so he can get the local job a lot of us dream of. I worry that he will get starved though if he switches back to company driver but at least we would be relieved of the burden of the truck payment and fuel. I really dont want him to quit and he doesn't either. It just makes you look like a job hopper on your DAC. The idea of going back to company driver has definitely been on my mind a lot lately though! Then will Prime look at you like you couldn't hack it? Who knows. If it meant a steady paycheck instead of no paycheck then I think I don't care what they think as long as their freight gets picked up and delivered on time, which it has been right along anyway, as well as his mpg always being over 7-sometimes over 8 when we are running out in Nebraska and Iowa. He is definitely doing what he is supposed to be doing cuz if he wasnt, I wouldnt lie about it.

**LandShark** · 08.31.2009

That Pittston is the old TRL terminal right? My friend has told me some stories about that place. and none of them good...he is on his second lease right now and said his dispatcher is one the best ones there...sorry I dont have his name..however my friend said that he is on a certian driver board that usualy runs teams but he runs solo. May be you can change to springfield dispatch...it might work out better for you.

**ironpony** · 08.31.2009

Switching to Springfield certainly wasn't an option last year - but they were trying to make Pittston work at the time. Most of the old TRL dispatchers are gone now.

My recommendation is still for Bill to get his heiny through the ACE-II course, and have management analyze a months worth of his operating statements. He's got 15 months? That's nothing. Has Bill ever managed a business before? That's why he needs the ACE-II course.