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

I think 48packard said it best, the instant gradification, of getting a truck/leasing a truck and becoming a business, with a few signitures, but without understanding what is expected of you once to sign on the dotted line. On you tube there a female that signed a lease with Prime, her weekly payments where 1295. Thats right your read that right. Well the truck broke down 5 times in a month and she had hotel bills she couldnt pay,Prime ended up paying those bills for her, but then she wanted to take some time off to regroup lol, but didn't understand why Prime was looking for that payment. Just a good example of not understanding what your getting yourself into and not understanding what that fine print means and of course not asking ?'s before hand...

 

A fleet of company trucks does not roll for the same unprofitable rates as LP trucks do,you can take that to the bank.

 

What?!? This would only make sense if the LP was running on percentage. Most LPs are mileage so it really doesn't matter to the company what type of truck it is on.

and this silly notion that LPs keep rates down that OOIDA is promoting must have come from the Lunatic Truckers manifesto.

 

You don't believe that helps megas artificially lower rates and grab biz? I think that is the Swift model at DG DC's

 

Hello everyone, sorry I have been MIA for awhile, but I had a bad flareup with my fibromyalgia. I just have to say that you guys always give great advice whether it is positive or negative. Your advice was really helpful when it came time to make our decision, but we did it by doing our research and running numbers. I agree that most drivers who go from company to l/p have a very difficult time making ends meet because they are in the negative more then the positive. The first key is to not go with the most expensive truck because what you make might just be enough to pay for the truck, but not the rest of the deductions. The second key is knowing when to get fuel at a cheaper price then going to the east coast and filling up, because 9 times out of 10 you will eat away any profit. The third thing is to understand how you are getting paid, and be conservative with everything you do out on the road. I always stock my husbands truck up with food, so that he can live out of his truck instead the truck stops.

I know that alot of you were against us going to l/p, but I can honestly say that this has been a better choice for us. It is possible to be a l/p driver, but make sure you know everything up front before signing a lease. If you keep your costs as low as possible, then you can succeed.

So, a big, big, thank you for all of your advice that is given here, because it truly does help others.

 

With the milage pay, stop pay and unload pay ... a Swift L/O will get over $2 mile on DG dedicated ...

 

Sure they will. I'd love to see some real numbers - I'm talking about actual odometer miles versus settlement statement on a Swift contractor doing DG dedicated. Even so, $2 a mile for all the hand unloads, wait times at stores and stops - that is really cheap. Hell you can do $3+ with multi-stop nursury loads in a dry van, similar situation, much better rate... ...but still not enough to tempt me when there is easier much less hassle stuff out there with the same rates...

 

Rollin, you clearly don't remember us talking about the DG opportunity. There was clearly no price cutting happen there.

The whole concept that Megas use LPs to reduce rates is based on the assumption that the LP is cheaper than a company driver. And that these companies need to cut these rates to get the business. As far as I am concerned all this is TS talk.

For years carriers have been telling the markets that they are not making money on LP equipment BUT these programs are valuable because the get more miles from solo drivers and able to get more teams (that demand premium rates). Remember, when a company has an LP truck, you have about a 10% completion rate, the average driver is in a lease truck less than 8 months, a truck sits MT just over 3 weeks between drivers and less than have of the repair costs are recovered on a returned truck. What a terrible business to be in.

So I just don't get where people are getting the idea that megas use LPs to drive rates down.

 

I'm totally interested ibn this subject matter, and am the considering O/O route. I've read only one positive comment concerning Lease Purchase mentioned on the page that offered some useful advice. Can anyone offer other methods to achieving this goal without haveing large sums of money to start with and then suggest a good carrier to lease on with that would help maximize profits

 

Does any one have any info about Altom's lease purchase program and probablity of success with hard work and persuverance