Prime's lease deal. The math gets done.

Hear Hear, I am tired of hearing people complain about how they are geting screwed over by the lease and all that. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT DONT SIGN THE LEASE. i look at it like leasing a car. When you lease a car you get nothing from that. so stop all you B*&*HING and let it go.

OH YEAH BTW i think that its a smart idea on what he is doing. He is offering you a chance to see what its like owning a truck with out having the to own the truck...He should be able to sell it if he can.

 

The problem lies within the driver who signs a lease with no back up money... and i dont agree with giving student who just graduated to say first seat a lease truck..If companies want to have a good lease program they need to lower the payments of the lease trucks. companies lease trucks in bulk and the payments they make are not what they charge the lease drivers...They do inflate the payments and thats sad to say... and its just not prime but a whole lot others...

 

So you're saying Prime should take a hit on their costs just so drivers who have no business operating a rig on this level can put a drag on their business? Poor little company driver can't make it so let's invoke the lease-op mercy rule. Funny... no one else gets that.

 

what dont you get..... The problem lies within the driver who has no back up money in case of major repairs... You can be a lease driver all you want if that is your cup of tea i am a true owner operator and have been for many years...You look at the inflated price of the truck the lease drivers are paying for and tell me whos getting screwed..and you answered my question NO they should not put a driver who has no business operating a righ on this level...Prime dont take any hits...those trucks just like other companies keep getting handed down to other lease operators and they have made their money...why do you think most of them will trade them in with 350 or 400 thousand miles.... The warranty is up ...comeone your seem smarter than that to know 800 buck a week for a truck is inflated...

 

Agreed... most of these guys are one major repair from living under the bridge.

Since you want to know, I'm a lease operator until I own my own metal. And I'm not interested in driving a junker with 900,000 miles that uses a gallon of oil every 1000 miles either.

You're right Prime doesn't take any hits on this... and they SHOULDN'T. Its a business... that usually implies a reasonable rate of return on their investment, doesn't it?

That's not been my impression of what happens. At Salt Lake and Pittston there are some used trucks, less at Springfield. Those trucks come with short-term leases based on whats left of the original 36 months, a tire allowance based on what's worn off, and a 60-day no questions 100% bumper-to-bumper in-house warranty plus the standard Freightliner warranty. They're immaculate - opposed to the usual pile of junk that the fleece-scammers keep reselling to the next rube. So really, IMO, that's a different ball of wax compared to what you're thinking of.

And there's a reason for that... reliability. And the carriers take a hit on their profitability to ensure that the equipment reliability is there. It is made-up through access to better accounts - shippers who demand reliable transportation.

Go find an auto loan calculator and run some numbers... your choice of principle and interest rate - but look at the numbers for 3 years vs 5 years. Most of the lease/purchase guys base the numbers they charge people on a 5-year note. Prime does theirs on a 3-year note.

I used $130,000 (roughly what a '09 model costs,) 6%...

5 year weekly payment: $579 (and 650,000 miles at 130,000 per year)

3 year weekly payment: $912 (390,000 miles)

Inflated? I don't think so. By the time the 3-year truck hits the mileage of the 5-year truck, you've had the opportunity to sock away 2-years of maintenance savings - better return on investment in my opinion.

 

HEY PAWPAW!! Or should i say Mrs lowe?? First off your obviously one of the prime drivers who lives eats sleeps and wipes his/her ### in a truck for a living. Beause thats the only way you make $1200 average per week. Im a 10 year ex prime driver. And my average was higher because i lived in the truck and my dispatcher was my friend which makes a big difference. So for all the newbies starting out they need to know the truth and it is simple Mr L steals money "legally" period!! He buys the truck for X amount of dollars.HE DOESNT LEASE IT!! cuz if he did how can he turn around and then sell it?? he has to own it to sell it right?? And because he buys volume. He probably gets a good deal. So hes already ahead. Then he charges a ridiculous amount per week. And if your lucky and finish a lease you get a so called lease completion. WHICH IS ACTUALLY YOUR MONEY ON LOAN IN HIS BANK GETTING INTEREST and he decides to give it back. How is it your money you ask?? He charges 4.5 cents per mile on top of the lease payment. So hes been taking that money all along. A low example would be 300,000 miles on a lease times 4.5 thats $13500. Oh and i love this one............he loans you a truck if yours is broke down?? Well first they decide if you are down long enough or just wait for your truck. Then you have to get back to prime!!! Not gonna happen over night!! Then they have to see if THEY HAVE A TRUCK TO LOAN!! which in my case they didnt so i just sat in denver for 2 weeks!! Keep in mind also if you take time off you will be in the whole your weekly fixed costs in most cases is around $1000 or more. So if your truck doesnt break down....you live in your truck....you have a friend in your dispatch.....dont deny loads.......take very little time off maybe you will average $1200 per week. Or maybe you will be like 80% of prime drivers who leave disgruntled and in the whole a few thousand bucks to go start a new job!! Funny thing is if you can do all of those things you will make money and get some of your money back disguised as a lease completion bonus. For miss PawPaw and myself it worked but for most it will not work. Mr L provides a service and because thiers no over sight hes able to get away with stealing. Kinda like FL who charges $110 per hour to work on your truck. Why?? Because they can and no ones gonna do jack about it!!

 

no ones b****n bro?? thier warning other drivers of the dumb move thier about to make. And you cant tell me #### about prime cuz i was there 10yrs. Its not the same as leasing a car cuz the lease payment on a car isnt doubled per week. And if your still at prime you would know nothing about leasing a car cuz you cant afford one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lmao And your right ... If you can legally steal money like Mr L then IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA!!

 

One might question your intelligence given the fact you are addressing a member (pawpaw) who hasn't logged in or posted to this site in almost 2 years (May 2009)

You really know how to pick a fight... (note my sarcasm in case it doesn't come across)

 

The problem with this analogy is that the guy who is renting you the building on the 2 year lease is not also controlling your inventory, what you make for the work you perform on the CB's and how much you can sell the CB's for and what kind of profit you will have or not have etc etc.

And all these trucking companies are advertising giving you a tool to run your own business. When in fact they are renting trucks out and totally control whether you make a dime or not.

Now I don't fault them for making a buck since the driver signs on the dotted line. But the people that bought a house on variable interest rates or interest only mortgages where seen as victims of the sneaky banks. And not dumb ##### who had no business owning a home because they did not understand what they where signing or did not make enough money to own a home.

So the question is not only what is legal but what is ethical. And I doubt that if all these companies that do leases like primes lined these people up in orientation and said 8 out of 10 will leave here feeding your children top ramen 3 times a day, that they would have so many eager numpties.

 

Except that's bogus. The majority of leasees are doing well.