Wanted- Best Co to lease thru and get % of loads

hey Sleepingbear I Just Wanted To Add My 2cents On What You Want To Do. Broncrider & Brickman Are Correct About Leasing A Truck From A Co.i Did It With J.b.hunt And I Still Wake Up Screaming From The Awful Way They Handled Their L.p. Drivers.just Enough To Pay Their Truck Pymt, There Fuel, Ins. Etc Etc..leaving Me With A Few Hundred Dollars. Twice Was A Negative Ck...hhmmmmm Go Figure..buy From A Dealer, I Wasted Four Months With That Outfit.they Paid .85cpm Plus Fuel Surcharge.only 2400-2500 Mpw

 

Hey Sixbrix, How Do You Like Landstar And What Kind Of Truck Do You Have . I Would Really Like All The Info That You Could Give Me About Getting Started With Landstar Etc.etc... Average Runs Etc.etc I Have Spoken To Them When I Did My "fleece" W/j.b. And Had To Break It Off B/c No Miles= No $$$.. They Were Real Positive And Offered A Lot Of Info Based On What I Told Them, But I Want To Hear From Actual Drivers Who Are In The Trenches Getting Dirty..

 

Although it seems that I am a day late on this thread, I am going to weigh in anyway.
I can't speak to the issue of lease purchase because I have no experience in that subject. What I can talk about though is the value of experience. Somewhere in this thread Sleepingbear spoke in reference to "mom and pop" companies. I am sure most of you know that there are two types of " mom and pops" operating today. The first type is the small companies that are operating on a shoestring budget with inferior equipment and are one major catastrophe from bankruptcy. These are the kinds of people that you admire because they are trying their best (in most cases) but you should really stay away from because of the instability and insecurity of their operation.
The second type of "mom and pop" company is the type with a solid business model and financial security whom remain small by choice. This is where I come in as My wife and I have been operating a small company with ten company trucks and six leased on o/ops for quite a few years now.(We actually took it over from my father when he retired so the company itself has been in business for 35 years now,we have been running it for the last 8 years) We run nice trucks,pay extremely well, pay full benefits package at company expense, and treat our drivers very well in general. I know I am rambling on, but I feel I need to provide some background info before I can make my point.
My point is as follows; My insurance carrier requires five years of experience in the last six calender years. They also require drivers to be 30 years of age. In addition to these general requirements, drivers can have no more than one speeding ticket in the previous five years(and it can't be more than 14 mph over limit.) and no more than one accident in the previous five years regardless of fault. Do you think we have any problems finding qualified drivers? Absolutely not. We have a reputation as a company that in order to get a job here "You have to know somebody". In the eight years that I have been running this company we have only lost three company drivers and two own/ops to another otr trucking company. We have lost some others to local jobs,retirement, or leaving the industry altogether, but in eight years I have hired 16 drivers. That equates to a 12.5% annual turnover rate. By the way, out of every three drivers who apply for a job opening that meet the insurance requirements only one can actually pass the first step of our hiring process which is the driving test. I am so stringent for two reasons. First, I feel that I owe it to my loyal customers to provide them with the best driver possible to represent them to their customer. Second, I can sleep so much better at night knowing that is is very very unlikely that one of my "guys" will ever screw up and hurt somebody in the general public.
Anyhow, in my opinion, GOOD EXPERIENCE is a very valuable thing. It can be essientially priceless. If you want a top notch job in this industry and think you will get it with one year and three months experience, you are either dreaming and dillusional or your career standards are very low. I wish you the best of luck in your trucking journey Sleepingbear in whatever you decide to do. In my opinion though, find a decent company that you can tolerate for awhile(either company or o/o), get your three to five years experience, then start searching for your "dream job". Again, best of luck to you.

P.S. To the moderators of this forum; I know the forum guidelines for advertising and sincerely hope I did not breach them. It was not my intent to advertise and thus I didn't give any specifics as to my operation. I was only trying to give a different perspective on the issue of the value of experience and thought this may be helpful. If I did infringe upon the no advertising policy, and you must strike this post, I will completely understand. Thank you for your board as I thoroughly enjoy perusing it almost daily.

 

Thanks Brick. I had Cybergal review the post right after I submitted it and she ok'd it.

As for qualifying with out of biz employers; that is easily done, it just has to be done manually and most larger companies won't take the time. If a driver can provide w2's or even paystubs, that would suffice along with the contents of your MVR.

As I said in another post, the insurance company only verifies a driver's MVR and public court records to establish safety history and level of experience, so actual job history has nothing to do with insurance but rather the company itself. A lot of drivers can fall through the cracks due to some companies being "lazy" when it comes to job verification.

 

You are convinced thats the real deal,company will buy you the truck if you work hard enough,right?,don't think you will be able to run legal all the time,truck has to move,shippers and receivers have to cooperate also,truck can't break down,or you can't be out sick,if a family member gets sick or dies,you can't just stop working or your truck will get repoed,if not you will be way behind on payments and looking to work 7 days 24 hrs a day to catch up,guess again,one wreck and your over hours,over 14 or or over your 70,off to jail if someone dies,if not at least 750 to 1000 dollar fine. I haven't heard of all your expenses yet,there are more yopu know,like emergency,road taxes,heavy use tax,sales taxes,ssi nd fed and state taxes,workmens comp for you,insurance for your family,life insurance your family needs if you get killed,disability insurance on you if you have a long type of injury. As a company driver your employer pays most of these things,guess again,why does your employer or any employer really want that truck bought or leased by you,you assume all the risks and they can't lose,that's the real deal. Try it and find out for yourself as millions since the 70's have tried. Then you will know everything.Unless you have no bills,live in the truck,have no loving family that you need to spend time with,no home,yes,it is a piece of cake to do it,but you will live in that truck until its paid for,with some leases,even this isn't possible as companies go out of business,change names,go into bankruptcy,then you lose everything with no money to even hire a lawyer. Think you can take on a big business,just ask OOIDA<it took thousands in fees to sue just a handful of these scruptulous people,there are thousands more.Think you will be lucky,yep,only lucky not to lose everything in these deals including your wife or girlfriend.

 

One more thing to think about,if you net 750 after expenses ,taxes when employed by an employer costs you about 35%,on your own business its like 40 to 45 % if you live in a state that has states taxes,besides the normal 15% ssi and fed tax.Just want to keep you informed. If these lease purchases deals were really meant to succeed we would all have our own trucks,most of us run as hard and steady within the law that we can. Gee,I wonder why I don't see more successful oo prior leases here or any where. Nearly no one answered that thread when I asked to tell me the truth about lease and if you succeeded and why not. I already know that answer,very very,low % age makes it,and those that have,have sacrificed alot more than they should have.

 

The REASON FLEASE/PURCHASE programs are a BAD IDEA is:
once these companies "lease" you the 'America Dream', they don't care about YOU or the TRUCK. They DON'T HAVE to keep it loaded to make money, afterall, you STILL HAVE to make payments. There are numerous stories here from people who FLEASED/PURCHASED and the company actually cut their miles to far below what is necessary to make money.
Most of these trucks are well abused equipment that they LEASE/PURCHASE to you at an inflated value, far above it's actual worth. Very few companies LEASE New equipment.
Others have told you that 3 months is NOT enough experience to make an informed decision to make this kind of financial obligation. I don't even think 3 YEARS is enough time. When I had my truck (and trailer) back when fuel was still less than 1.75 a gallon (those were the days), I averaged over 1.35 per mile for ALL miles leased with Landstar (including DH, even those miles I drove OOR to go fishing or visit a relative), with their rates and their generous FSC (at that time they were the ONLY company that was passing 100% of the FSC to the truck).

38 years experience "eating, sleeping and crapping" is hardly the type of experience necessary for what we are talking about here. Any toddler can eat, sleep and crap.

But it sounds like you have already made up your mind. Then WHY ask for advise? You already have all the answers, after all, you do have "38 years experience".
I wish you luck.