Prime Lease-Operator: Questions

Hilarious!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Prime has two separate types of a lease. One is no credit check, no money down and you basically just make payments but never own the truck. When the lease is up, you get a new one. The other style lease required like 10-13k down of your own money and that one you could actually end up owning. Unless it's changed since I heard

 

Ok I am going to be the Mom here... 3 kids under 5? all in 5 point harness car seats until roughly first grade. Where do you safely attach multiple car seats let alone store them while you are living in the truck? How do you change diapers? deal with I need to go NOW breaks? and the fussiness of restricting your kids for long hours while you drive? Where do they run around and play? can you harness them just to go inside so they aren't in loose by the fueling island small kids are harder to see in big trucks and not expected. Trust me a 6 hour road trip... hell going to a grocery store with 3 kids is WORK, and this is without another adult to help you. Look at this truck as a home good nutrition, exercise opportunities, learning materials, extra costs and obvious kid vs truck realities and don't be afraid to start with one and see how it goes before throwing all 3 in.

Now the good side.. the freedom of leasing so far has been the best for my man as a driver. Want to take a week off ok, that doesn't happen with most companies at least not 4-8 times a year like we were doing. We had more quality time and more money when my husband leased from Swift. He did port work but he came home every other day but was exhausted less money no trips no vacation time being home often wasn't worth it.

 

Im a new guy so take it with a gain of salt, but its very unlikely you will end up with a fleet of trucks working for any mega carrier as a lease op. You are paying a lot of money to run a truck as a lease op. The company has shifted most of the expenses to you and then they say you get 72% but how do you know?

That 72% could be actually be 50% of what the load actually pays because Prime took their money off the top before you even get that 72%. My point being dont get get caught up in the percentage pay, look at what the actual load pays per mile. Percentage is a useless number at the end of the day.

Next that walk away lease doesnt include a truck at the end of the day.. You are pretty much just renting the truck and then maybe you can buy it at the end of the lease for $60-80k. Why buy a $60-80k used truck from Prime when craigslist is full of $30-40k trucks?

When you buy a truck via lease from Prime, its not a walk away lease and you have to put a chunk of money down. You also have to complete a normal walk away lease before you can even do the buy the truck lease..

I dunno the details as far as how long you have to do your 1st lease for before you can actually buy a truck via lease, but just wanted to make you aware of that.

Dont take my post as bashing Prime's lease program or anything like that. I just wanted to point out a few things that it seems no one specally recruiters really tell you.

If it was so easy to lease a truck then end up with a fleet then there would be a lot of guys already with fleets of trucks..

Just my thought, but maybe get you and your wife hired on.. Do a lease op for one of you then company for the other. This way you get company benifits as a lease op and 2 clocks on the truck.. Save your money then buy a truck outright.

 

We have one Prime driver here that could prove you wrong