Driver Escrow And Risk To Personal Credit Report

This is not an answer to your question, but I suggest you stay far away from any carrier that requires a company driver escrow. There are far more reputable carriers hiring entry level or experienced drivers.

Vehicle damage by a company driver is a cost of doing business, the carrier will be insured for such events. Should the carrier have so little faith in their drivers, perhaps they should evaluate their hiring guidelines and attract/hire better drivers. Should a driver repeatedly cause damage, and/or at an unacceptable level, simply terminate the driver and move on.

I wouldn't doubt that some of these carriers collect from both the insurance carrier as well as the driver, creating profit from an accident. My .02 on this . . . Run like a school girl from any carrier wanting an escrow from a company driver.

 

He said a 1099 driver, not a company driver. I have no answer for this question though.

 

Im torn.

If you are paying 1099, out of your ### and wallet to Uncle Sam. You are a lease or Owner Operator. Not just a ... "Company Driver." whose COMPANY has to pay the taxes to dear Uncle Sam.

Does that sentence make sense?

If you did never see a peice of paper to sign that contained those 4 numbers 1099, you are a standard cookie cutter company driver. There should be NO escrow anywhere on your wallet. Company trucks stand wear and tear according to your skills and if you hit something and destroy it or the truck, it's YOU that gets fired.

Now the credit reports... heh. That's on you with your loans your credit cards, Your utiilities etc....

Here is a tidbit, if you wrote to Axiom of Little Rock Arkansas, you will discover they contain in electronic form Credit History on every single American dead and alive since the founding of our Nation. Should you try and sign a opt out, all your finanicial history would be wiped out causing you to be a position of a high school graduate with no history at all and very high payments all over again as you rebuild same.

If you are running a 1099, it is expected that you would have perhaps formed a LLC or a Corperation to trucking business seperate from your Personal Home, Personal Property.

My Parents owned a tavern and several other large lounges and resturants back in the day and they were operating under a Corperation and reportable to wall street as such and Taxed as such along with licenses for food and beer. That way if something busted them out of business or got sued, the Personal House, cars and assets were protected by Corperation.

 

I don't understand. When did that change to be where it is now with no protection for Sole Proprietor? Remember I grew up in a small tavern in which everything was chargeable to parents from the 3000 dollar a month gas/electric bill to payroll and Beer Delivery man as well as Sysco ....

 

I am curious about this too. Many lease operators leave their carriers after so much time and often leave thousands of dollars in 'debt' to the carrier after the 45 day period, in which the carrier tallies up the final settlement between themselves and the lease operator.

Say the lease op had been with the carrier for 8 months, paid $1500 in a couple different escrows, leased his truck also through the carrier at zero down no credit check but finds himself in a bad freight slump and only produces 1500 miles a week three weeks running which produces 3-5 negative settlement paychecks in a row and busts the guy totally broke. So he leaves the truck and trailer at some truck stop and thumbs a ride home. Now company has to pay someone to go recover that unit. So they get the truck back and slap 10 brand new virgin tires on it, full oil service and detailing etc. and the bill comes out to $9,000 and the 45 days later the lease op gets a bill in the mail from the carrier $7500 owed. That's if they don't just park the truck on the line and continue charging the weekly amount til some other driver signs for the truck.

 

Well Scottied67.. Multiply that by a number of busted Lease Operators unable to eat a proverbial bowl of chili per week in lean times you stand to see alot of money coming back to the company in collections activity against those who walk away exposing themselves to that kind of liability.

 

Which is exactly why I bought my own truck when I leased on to the authority of another company. I opted out of allowing them to withhold any monies from me for maintenance escrow.

Most companies will hold out monies for plates, etc. That is normal. However, even then you have to know that you're dealing with someone who will reimburse you for any prorates they held out in the event you leave.

If you're dealing with an unscrupulous company, a deficit on the maintenance escrow is plausible when you leave and turn the truck back in.

Most companies have a 45 day period to settle with you when you leave.

A lot of guys end up in shock when they discover that their last settlement is not only what they thought they were going to collect, but that they actually OWE money!

I used to think that lease programs could be doable. No more. If a guy can't make it on his own, he/she should just remain a company driver. There are a lot of pitfalls.

Leaser beware.