I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Appreciate you looking out for a fellow nomad; I've leased a couple times before and did okay. I mostly like the tax advantages. Risinger has a pretty good program. They are a relatively small company and seem content to make most of their money with freight. They move mostly customer freight (fewer grocery warehouses).

There's always a driver out there bad mouthing the company they work for. I try not to do that. I'll just report my experiences, both good and bad, and let you decide for yourselves what to make of it. Gordon is not a bad company. I'm just not a good fit for the big carriers. Someone who is newer at this and is content to let the company do all the thinking for them, there's nothing wrong with that. I thought I would enjoy that -- I was wrong.

I've spoken to more than a single driver and I've seen the lease. I also know the truck I'm getting (2014 VNL670 with Volvo D13 power and iShift 12 speed automatic) and that my break even point is just over 970 miles (including fuel at current prices). They have a DOT average based FSC but deep discounts at the pump and they tack on an extra surcharge if you run in the Northeast (varies by state). There are other details but what matters to me is the relatively low break even point. Some places which shall remain nameless will say you only need around 600 miles to break even but they don't take into account your other charges besides payment, or the fuel you need to run those miles. Or your maintenance account. Or how you have to pay back the down payment. Etc. Etc. Etc. I can make my expenses on the first run of the week (or second).

Anyway it's refrigerated freight so the runs are generally longer and the work is pretty steady. And they aren't pretending they'll run me west of I35.

I've done homework I don't tell everybody about. I'll be okay. Or else I'll go home and sell Chevys!

 

The one I had before never once put a foot wrong in the Ozarks, Catskills, Poconos, or all along the Blue Ridge. It was as reliable as a door stop.

Risinger doesn't go west of I35 for the most part.

The unit I'm leasing was apparently a team truck as it has about 240,000 miles on it so I'll be checking it out carefully. That's why the lease term is so short.

 

1. They have an excellent lease program, should be detailed elsewhere on their web site.

2. Their running area is primarily east of I35 but does include a few places to the left of that line, very few towards the Colorado line and next to nothing further than that; I think they don't want to mess with the chain laws. They have to take the AQ into consideration and being a smaller company they probably don't think the revenue is worth the risk.

A friend who drives for Celadon told me he saw a Risinger truck in Texas on I35 try to drive through the ditch over to the service road. In a blinding rain storm. He sank it to the axles. My friend took pictures of the tow trucks trying to drag it out of the muck. AQ at work.