Lease companies, "NOT Lease purchase"

Nah you can do OK on percentage pay. A few bigs and tons of smaller outfits out there. Look into USA Truck, Schneider, Mercer, Landstar and JB Hunt for starters, then work your way down into smaller outfits until you find one that fits.

 

All depends on ones situation. I too bought a truck for cash, fixed everything that was needing done and when I ran the numbers, it was better to go O/O with my own authority than paying someone a % of gross. Even paying a company to handle all my compliance and IFTA which I will take over later, and having a dispatch company. A lot of Luck is also involved as their are so many things that can go wrong in this business. The key that tips the scales is Insurance. Mine was around 10k for the year. 58, clean driving record, live in NW. I know a lot are double that number and if that were the case for me, I most likely would be leased on with someone.
I think there are a lot of good lease companies out there and can be found with research, don't believe everything your are told as they also have recruiters, get everything in writing and make sure you know what you are signing when that time comes. You might check out Silver Trucking LLC smaller company that I have heard good things about. For sure Landstar, Mercer and Schneider as @slow.rider mentioned. Good luck.

 

What fuel card are you using?

 

I got my own authority in November last year and my insurance about 14k a year, that's with 500k in cargo insurance as I do lot of oversize stuff, but I only had to give them 3k up front. It's alot of paperwork to start, and a waiting game but so far I love it. Some brokers want 90 days old. I got a few direct customers so I do ok right now. It's a pay cut at 1st but takes time to build up reputation and learn the dispatch side. Best of luck.

 

I did pretty good with Landstar, even using their trailer,
Had thought of buying one, but then you’d lose out on a ton of drop and hook loads.
So after a while I just got my own numbers and bought a trailer and do my own thing, but insurance is 15K year.

 

I would start with company van and then see how many drop and hooks you do per month. But the big advantage in getting one's own dryvan might be in being able to add stuff that the company vans don't have. Ramp, liftgate, side door, belly box with pads and a pallet jack, &c. Then at least the nice paying d&h loads are replaced with other nice paying loads that would otherwise be unavailable, but now you're getting the extra percent across the board too.

 

Find a smaller company to lease on to that pays percentage. Lots of good smaller companies like that will treat you good. Don't settle for mileage pay