It's like enlisting in the military for 4 years. You had better stick with it, if you don't, you come out worse than you went in. For me, it worked great; but I did my research and knew what I was getting into and what I needed to do to be successful. My first lease was on an older truck with 373,000 miles (but only one previous driver) and upon lease completion 16 months later my "bonus" was about $5,000. I used that plus what I had saved for my downpayment on my new truck (OKC Freightliner, not Prime). The Prime 'system' does not reward casual drivers. You have to run, run, run. Legal, but no side trips or screwing around. Last year I did 161,000 miles and had 50 days home. Grossed $204,000 and took home $72,000 (not including the bonus). Most do not want to work that hard, and there are many companies for them to work at. Prime is not a place to work; it is a place for you to make money and run your trucking business. Making money is not magic, it's basic common sense and education: drive 60 (but log 6, drive 500 miles a day loaded, keep idle to less than 10%, air up tires, change oil, use Prime computer fuel stops (get the discount), refuse very few loads, very few. Keep running. Sitting never pays. If you don't run one day you just lost $500. Pretty simple stuff, you just have to do it day after day after day. Find a shipper that delivers in your home town and get that load to take you to the house. Then every time you want to go home, try and get that same run. There are many companies out there, no one is 'best' except the one that you can make work for you. Just do your research.

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Very nice write up.

I think this is the first time I heard someone talk positively about a lease purchase.

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Just remember,if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

Well, the Prime deal isn't a lease purchase, it's just a lease. Some companies will lease purchase their old company trucks to get rid of them. I don't want to buy somebody's junk... Prime's deal is figured so that you do a lease until the end, receive a bonus (some get up to $20,000), take a vacation, then do it all over again. Their are quite a few Prime drivers who do just that, and when you've been there awhile you can order your new lease truck whatever type you want. Pete,KW, whatever. You just pay the lease and keep going. At the end of the lease you can do a buyout if you want to keep the truck, but it's about $40,000, or you can buy it after it's been on a lease for 2 years.
I almost did that, but $40,000 for a truck with 600,000 miles !? No thanks. So I just bought my own. You can buy a new Prime truck with $9,000 down # 10.25% APR, but I didn't want a HighRise Condo (I'm a flatbedder). And I thought I could beat that APR anyway.

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Is the Prime you are referring to Prime Inc. out of Springfield MO?

I am most interested in this as I am about to pull the trigger on a rig but need to understand more about the business.

Thanks for your posts here.

If you are just starting out in the trucking industry, do NOT jump in with a lease purchase with Prime, US Xpress, Dart or ANY company for that matter. Do it for a year or so.

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Just remember,if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

This Thread is Very informative, on alot of Fronts.
Please continue!!!

I am interested in what Marty thinks about the Lease route for new O/O's

And I am interested in the Continuing Lease Story!

If not "Jump in" to Lease for History as was done, Then what do you suggest a new o/o do?

What do you suggest that a person considering buying their 1st truck do?
as far as the 1st truck.
I thought the information about the lease sounded like an excellent idea, considering the new future o/o was willing to work as suggested to build a history for a future local commercial bank loan.
Although there must be a reason Gazoo feels strongly about not jumping into a lease right away.
If the homework has been done, the money (business expenses, home expenses, and down payment has been saved) and you are ready to get your first truck.....What would be best?
If lease is not, I got half a mind to just go visit with Marty when the Time comes!

Perfect example....
Lease purchase with the new company I am with:

$350 a week = $1,400 a month for 36 months.
This is on a 2004 Columbia with no money down.

I just purchased a 2004 Columbia, with a down payment of course, for:
$1290 a month which equates to $322.50 a week.

48 months was the terms, but I also got a 2yr/200,000 mile warranty as well as an additional 6 months/50,000 on the little stuff like clutches and fuel injectors.

The biggest plus of all.....I OWN THIS TRUCK!! well, technically, Daimler Chrysler Finance does but you get the idea.

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Just remember,if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

I'm not a big fan of leasing... Don't get me wrong, if it for you, than great. But not my gig.

In my pool of the business I handle start-ups and rough credit. Most people in this pool of business won't get the truck that they really want because they can't afford it or do not have enough money to get it. Most of my deals are set up so a customer can get out of it half way through the term and will more than likely have some equity since they put down 20% up front. Now they have some commercial credit on their C.B. and can usually move on to a better deal.

My biggest problem with a lease is the payoff is 99.9% of the time the sum off all payments + residual. So no matter what, you're in it. Most leases require first and last payment with no big down payment. This means no equity half way through the loan. Now if it's the truck you want or your dream truck, fine. But when you have to settle for that truck you don't want, the last thing you do want is to be in it longer than you have too.

Makes perfect sense.
Thanks Gazoo
And Thanks MartyCAG

getting ready to buy a truck will be older one cause i no how to work on them and able to put between 6-8k down if need be what lenders will finance me on a older truck and which one would you recommend