Why are drivers conned by lease purchase

These drivers always figure that THEY would be the one's to make it work...eternal optimists, I guess.

 

I wonder where I have heard this line before....oh I remember....every counter at every truck stop between CA and ME....don't forget every recruiter with a line for every driver!

Just exactly which driver doesn't think he knows it all anyway?!!!!

 

He is not the driver but the con er recruiter if I'm wrong.

 

I leased a W9! Not that I condone lease purchase. I do agree with you. My wife and I teamed and found the lease worked for us to start out. As a single driver there is no way I would do it! Too many things can go wrong and there just isn't enough margin for error. However in general most people are like fish and if you dangle something shiny in front of them they will go for it, no matter what the consequence. You can talk till you are blue in the face but when these companies just give anybody a brand new truck and you don't have to pay anything up front, a lot of people are going to fall for it. These companies know what they are doing and make lots of money! That is why they don't want to own the trucks!!!!

 

I certainly can't speak for everyone, however I can understand why SOME try the lease program. If you have no independent business experience and you want to try it out, a lease program with an OUT can do that for you. It allows you to try the independent route and opt out if it doesn't fit your needs.
I've done them all. I've leased (but not from a company), I've owned...been a true O/O for 18 years and I've been a company driver.
There's an advantage to all of them and it often depends on what the driver is looking for.
I will say that if you lease from your trucking company and find out it works well for you, look at terminating the lease and purchasing your own truck, then leasing yourself to that company. Often there will be a better return since your purchase payments will be less than your 'lease' payments.
As an example, a typical lease payment from a company (before insurance) runs around $550 per week. You can often purchase a used truck with 400,000 miles on it for under $30,000, and end up with a monthly payment of around$1,100 over three years. But if you don't know the business or if you don't know if you really want to be independent, a lease may be a good way to test the water.
But that lease has to have an out clause that allows you to walk away at ANY time with a preset penalty. That penalty should not exceed one week's payment.
Going out and buying a truck, then finding out it isn't for you leaves you with a truck to sell and that could be a lot worse loss than that lease termination penalty.
But again, the lease has to be written right. There are a lot of them out there that will scalp your hide, then bury you afterward. Be careful.

 

Not all Lease purchase programs are scams in my opinion, but so many are its best not to purchase a truck that way. Instead of doing something that will destroy your credit and enslave you for years drive company and repair your credit score. Call it bait and switch or plain dishonesty but the majority of these programs are set up with the max amount of profit the company could hope to make on a unit taken right off the top on rates plus then the driver pays twice the amount for the truck then what it's worth. That's the reason they love to do it. It's a way of giving the driver the feel of control/owning their own biz but it's more like a mother laying out three outfits for a toddler and then telling him to choose like a big boy when if fact she already knows and approves of the outcome but to keep the child from throwing a temper tantrum because the clothes suck she uses this tool of control. You can't move that truck to work for another place and that is the first thing you should never do in transportation.

I will be buying another truck in Jan of 2011. I dinked my credit score up a few years back and had to pull it up, currently a 650 and getting better monthly. I will have $8-10,000 to pay down. I will keep my payment under $800 monthly. The company I want to lease to pays 100% of fuel surcharge plus Divers get the fleet fuel discounts. I am a decent mechanic and will do most work myself. I think the reason most sign those horrid flease programs is because their credit is not good enough to buy from a bank and they can't work on equipment.

 

Most of what you say is fairly accurate...however i disagree with the part about if one is in credit problem zone...the no down/lease from a large company (in some...not all cases) can help get over the credit hurdle. However, some basic business savvy would help, and one can learn from a lease/purchase how to handle finances regarding the truck/business. Most that get involved in the lease/op thing, are there to get a bigger paycheck, and with the bigger paycheck comes responsibility...taxes, maintenance, bookkeeping, budgeting...and the list goes on. Most get too comfortable with the bigger weekly check and take an attitude that the big checks will be a regular thing...go crazy with other toys for their new big toy, and the tax issue is what usually gets the new lease/op in trouble. budgeting and will power about current and future expenses/liabilities must be established and maintained.