Question for SNI choice guys. Why did you choose?

Well put.....I agree completely. This has been my experience as well. I can't think of the last time I rolled on my 10 and as of right now, I still have 17 hours left on my 70 that rolls over today. Ran $4600 in revenue this week and will pocket about $1700. (It was a good week). Next week I'll be going home (because I ******** feel like it) and will only make between $900 and $1100.

Knight Rider.....I was following your thread before....I got all the way to the part where you found white stuff in the oil. I thought you were going to turn down the truck?

What a lot of people really don't get, is that we are responsible for most of our problems. Blaming someone else means we didn't fail (it was someone else's fault). But when a fairly knowledgeable, mechanically inclined guy like KR accepts a used truck with water in the oil, what can you say???

Dude......get over it and move on.....

 

Your absolutely correct! Best place to be is with a company that employs or in our case contracts to good people. Through the last couple of years with SNI one thing I notice is they have a lot, i mean more than usual amount of good people in there office and drivers that work with them all over the country. There is some bad apples of course, but there are a noticeable amount of just good guys and gals! That's why I stay and really have no need to look elsewhere at this point. You don't see that in many establishments. You want success, surround yourself with successful people and with a company that has vision and integrity. At least that's how I see it.

 

Dude!! you really need to lighten up mann! We get it! didn't go well here for ya.. cool it doesn't work out and as you said you found a better place so awesome! tell us what's happening there and knock off this crap! There isn't a company out there that is perfect match for everyone.. You want to get back at SNI tell about where you are now!

 

Yea Dip I did turn it down.. and she told me that I couldnt get a truck for more than a month. I was inclined to say no problem even tho I had just given up my old truck with prior company and had most my stuff with me but the the head guy for SFI said he would let the truck go to the main guys at their mechanic shop to do oil test and the oil test came back good and they said it was just moisture built up and will go away. I figured since Im an auto mechanic and not diesel then perhaps the diesel oil has such a thing as they claim so I went on with it.

Anyways Dip Im not butt hurt about the experience I learned from it and have moved on except whenever someone mentions how great a deal SFI lease is so I just put in my 2 cents

 

Where I am now.. hmm Lets see.. like I said in one of my last posts on my thread.. I was going to go back to my old company run papers for while till I made 20k or so and get a truck from Paccar truck sales.. well I did get a truck only
not from paccar but rather from Melton truck sales as their trucks were nicer with more goodies and APU got 2010 with under 400k miles for 56k. It will be ready they said by mid April.
I was contacted by a recruiter over at SNI wanting me to come back as they had gone over my situation with their head guy there and he felt bad for what happened as the same happened to a number of drivers out of california.

I told them they screwed me out of 500 bucks for late load that wasnt my fault.. she said theyd give me that back plus 7500 sign on bonus. So im contemplating it tho nothing solid as I could still stay with the company Im at get my 90% of gross and run whatever. Most likely I'll be staying right where Im at.

Anyways I never had any beef with SNI. Only with SFI. That I'll have till kingdom come. Anyone want to run hard make quick cash and get your own truck within a year msg me. Again its not running like a chicken you will run hard but it will pay off I promise.

 

To illustrate CW's point of how going thru SFI could be a better financial decision I whipped up this chart:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 748"]
[TR]
[TD]Truck Cost
[/TD]
[TD]$95,000[/TD]
[TD]$95,000[/TD]
[TD]$95,000[/TD]
[TD]$110,000[/TD]
[TD]$110,000[/TD]
[TD]$110,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Interest Rate
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]18%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]18%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Weekly Payment[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$681.76[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$659.03[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$625.79[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$763.09[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$724.60[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$663.05[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Number of Payments[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]200[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total Payment[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$136,350.76[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$131,807.30[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$125,157.41[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$152,618.87[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$144,918.99[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$132,611.18[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1 YR Remaining Bal[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$76,052.45[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$76,223.65[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$75,296.43[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$88,258.80[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$87,185.29[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]$85,332.24

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


I used http://www.mycalculators.com/ca/wloanm.html for the amortization information. As a disclaimer there are many ways to do the math on this depending on which variables you alter. Anyone who says math doesn't lie hasn't spent any time with a collegiate math professor. Arithmetic doesn't lie, but math can lie just as much as words.

The key variable I focused on was truck price. Assuming an identical truck, a static number of payments and disregarding down payment (assuming 100% financing), a person can eat about an additional 5% APR for each $10,000 dollars fewer dollars financed and end up paying the same amount. If you can get a better purchase price from one source - but only by using that source's financing - then it is possible to save money over the course of the loan with a significantly higher APR than buying the same item at a higher price with a lower APR.

Now if you do the one year lease and then get outside financing at the better rate you're going to start out financing $5-10,000 LESS which will save you thousands in interest payments.

In this as all things context is king. Purchase price, down payment, credit score, credit history, and a host of other factors will impact the "cost to borrow" amount. With the high price of used equipment it is highly likely that SFI will be able to offer a better purchase price in comparison to a dealer knowing that A) they'll make up the difference in other ways and B) their overhead is distributed over a larger area reducing their need to inflate profit margins.

If you can get a better deal at an outside dealer, go for it. If SFI has the better deal, use them. The key is do your homework.


I'd also like to make the point that NO CREDIT is different than BAD CREDIT. My credit score is hurt because I have very little on there. I firmly believe Cash is King. I would struggle getting outside financing for a truck because of my lack of credit history - I've never had a major loan that's been repaid. I have no defaults, delinquencies, or derogatorys but I only have 4 credit accounts. I can buy a house no problem, but something as portable as a truck would take some serious discussions with my friendly neighborhood loan officer.

 

If you have no or bad credit and no money to put down then yes absolutely go with SFI. Its alot better than any of the other company leases out there but nonetheless it is a lease. After doing the math on my buddy's new cascadia he got there he figured out that the first year he will have paid SFI a little over 15k just in interest for that year... so I mean its a butt rape no matter how you look at it but sometimes you don't have a choice.

The crappy part about doing the lease over buying from a dealer or whatever is with a dealer if you pay it off sooner you pay less due to the interest.. but here no matter how soon you pay it off or if you take the full term.. the price is still the same so paying it off faster won't benefit you at all.

It works for some and not for others. If you like hometime and dont want to speend weeks upon weeks on the road like me then it won't work on the other hand if spending weeks out there is no issue then it will work. If you are lucky and live in some parts of the country where SNI has good paying and good moving lanes then you get the best of both worlds.. being out in cali unfortunately isn't one of those places.

 

I know a guy who has been running up and down the West Coast and has found a set up that gets him to Portland for a day or two a week in the turn, and he is doing pretty well with it. Might all change tomorrow, but for now, its working for him.

 

with most loans, the interest is the majority of the note paid back first. Something to keep in mind with no down payment.

No skin in this game at all, BUT the point of doing anything is to do your homework. Go in to whatever endeavor armed with as much info as possible to make an informed decision. Then own that decision.

 

Hi there..... We lucked out and started with Schneider National as a company driver, we then we moved over to the IC Choice program. Wish we had started there (IC Choice)!!!! We love it!!!!! If you would like to chat to my hubby, he would be more than happy to give you the info from the inside.....