BEST LEASE PURCHASE??? (to head me towards ownership)

Well...that's it then... we will all turn in our trucks because we keep the rates low. What will happen to those rates when all lease drivers become company drivers? Wow, never realized that the whole industry revolves around the leased trucks....

 

The entire concept of financing something, anything, through the same party that controls your income is asinine from the get go. Why take all of the responsibilities of paying for everything, then you have [your pimp] tell the customer, "I have a guy that will haul it for that." ??? And when you don't, you start the games where you go home for weeks and then "it got slow." Why not let them finance your house and your car too?

 

Yep, makes perfect sense. Thats why from now on we are just going to give up & be company drivers. Might even unionize the company by force. But look what that did for Hostess, Goodyear, ...hell, you can name them....

 

I still fail to understand why it should be leased through the company. What is wrong with financing it through an outside source, a BANK, so if you are unhappy with the way things are going you can move your truck elsewhere? How does someone on a L/P consider themselves an OWNER OPERATOR when someone else's name holds the title?????

 

In February of this year, the ATA held a seminar to work with all the major carriers to share best practices on how to improve their Lease programs. Self reported numbers from the carriers had the best completion rate at 12% and the low at 8%.

So we have a handful of people on here that are in the success side. And I am one of them. But when I was leasing I think one of the reasons for my success was that I didn't make it out to be anything other than it was. Never called myself an O/O. Knew what the risks were. And had a plan to succeed.

For those coming on here and defending programs that most can't seem to succeed in maybe you would better serve those looking to lease by sharing some of the things that you do different that leads to your success. Because if you are just going alone running like a company driver then you are just lucky. But if you are doing something different than all the 90% of those in your company that are doing well then sharing would benefit everyone.

Because just saying you are doing it helps no one and makes your claims suspect.

I will share this. When I was leasing and mentoring others I quickly noticed that I could tell you what my settlement would be within $5. But few that I talked with tracked more than the loads the ran and what it paid. When I did talk with people that have been succeeding they tracked everything as well. I never meet someone that was succeeding that didn't know the numbers.

 

Not directed @ Silenteagle at all:

The reason why MOST L/P drivers get into a program is because they have $0 to put down, and their credit is not good enough to get them financed somewhere else. They rely on the company to get them into a truck, and work it that way.

Now, I do believe Silent Eagle said he will have a new truck for $114,000..... which I good, but you could have also bought the exact same truck for the same price yourself w/o Prime. also, Prime purchased that truck for around $85,000 so they are making some money off you that way too. But who cares, it's your choice, not ours. Do whatever you feel like doing, and we all hope it works out for you.

All that said, i have a serious question for you Silent Eagle.... on Prime's site, it states there is "A standard 4.5¢ per mile mileage charge is also applied to each lease"

Where does this money go and do you get it back at the end of the lease?? Is it like a maintence fund or????

 

The lease completion bonus they give when a lease is completed. If you don't complete it they keep it. Extra profit for them.

 

Thanks, i was wondering how that worked out. at least if you commplete the L/P you got a nice little check coming to ya

 

The best lease purchase that will lead you to ownership is one that you will be happy in & complete. Whether or not people will admit to it, everyone owning a truck & transporting freight for money is in a lease purchase. Whether under their own numbers or leased on, that equipment needs to be paid for & maintained. Plates & permits need to be purchased and a check for insurance has to go out. I ran under my own numbers and also for a company and the costs were significantly less running for a company when figuring in fuel discounts, insurance discounts, maintenance discounts, & fewer fees. In some cases the freight rates were higher under the company. Whether a 1 truck or 3,000 truck outfit, they are all LP, other wise we would just charge a customer for driver pay.

 

SHC, you do have great questions. I looked at purchasing a truck. without experience in trucking on the driving side I would be at a disadvantage and set up for failure if I had bought an older truck and tried to find my own loads. Learning curve is just too steep that way for me. This way I am working my strengths while learning the frieght networks.

As far as purchasing a truck, I could have bought an older truck, but couldn't get onto any O/O companies with my lack of experience. Financing is the big factor for me. The financing would have almost doubled the cost of just about any truck I could buy. Purchase price of a Cascadia would have been around $110,000 from the dealer brand new. Add financing to that for 5 years and you are at $165,000.

The CPM on the leases are for regular leases. Like most, I don't understand leasing a truck for 3 years and then turning it in for someone else to sell. The regular lease (with option to purchase after 104 weeks) you pay 2.0cpm for the tire fund and 4.5cpm as a usage fee for the lease. the tire fund will buy you new tires. the usage fund becomes your lease completion bonus, minus all costs to fix it up to sell. people get back anywhere from $5000 to $39000 (highest I have heard so far) if they take care of the truck. On the Ace lease (lease/purchase) I pay 1.0cpm, which becomes a lease completion bonus when I pay it off. last ace lease that was completed (in june if I remember right) was $70,000. No repair costs come out of the ace lease bonus, as it is now your truck.

Self Discipline is one of the biggest killers of all truck businesses and O/O's starting out or going independent. Anyone who is running a truck and assuming the expenses should be tracking every penny on a spreadsheet or accounting program. Reconciliation should happen weekly when you get your settlement, and all discrepancies should be addressed immediately. I consider detention a bonus, and keep track of it with a monthly reconciliation.

I post on this forum, not just this thread, in hopes to learn more, and share my experiences to help others. I will not waste my time, however, on someone who does not want to help themselves. I also talk to several other drivers that have leased on to Prime to learn, share, and help as well. I now am putting forth my instructor skills to train new drivers to be worth a ####. I hope I am successful, but am always aware that i could fall flat at any time.