Thoughts on a Full Maintenance Lease?

Discussion in 'Lease Purchase Trucking Forum' started by hsingh_2, Jun 9, 2021.

  1. hsingh_2

    hsingh_2 Light Load Member

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    Hey fellow drivers,

    I am just looking to gather a few opinions / information on this topic. Just some general questions I had about a full maintenance lease.

    I am looking to get new tractors, freightliner cascadias. I've read that a full maintenance lease is my best option. I am not a company driver, so I am not referring to a "lease purchase program through a motor carrier".

    From what I have gathered, FM leases are for 4 years, with no down payments, monthly payments that also cover maintenance bumper to bumper, and you can get 150k miles per year. If you happen to hit those miles in a year, they give you a brand new truck.

    For me and my goals as a business owner, I feel like it makes more sense to go this route, since all maintenance is covered, AND as you all know, maintenance and repairs are one of the biggest expenses.

    I read a few posts on here, and the OPs said the leasing company such as Penske, asked for around $21k down payment.

    Let me know your thoughts.
     
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  3. CAPTransport

    CAPTransport Light Load Member

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    They make a profit off the maintenance program. They wouldn't offer it if they didn't. It's no different than aftermarket extended warranties. My lessor takes $0.06 a mile out. I've done bi-monthly PMs, quarterly inspections, fixed a power divider seal that was leaking, fixed two flats, replaced a starter, and still have over $3,000 in the account that I'm not getting back. It hasn't even been a year yet. I could have that in my pocket, save money by doing everything mentioned myself instead of using their approved list of overpriced shops, and not have somebody tell me when, where, and what I can do with a truck I pay for.

    I would not put $21K down on a rental truck, or a lease truck in general. In business, leases are actually beneficial because of the immediate tax deductions, low upfront cost, and you're not liable for anything. I would not put more than $10,000 down on a lease, and that's not including my own maintenance fund and having the cost to the break the contract in the bank as well so I can walk away at anytime. Any more than $10,000 down and you're better off putting a down payment on a used truck.
     
    Jarhed1964 and Judge Thank this.
  4. hsingh_2

    hsingh_2 Light Load Member

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    Yeah thats what i was thinking too. I might as well just buy a solid used truck if theres more than 10k down.

    I know they make a profit off the lease but i feel like it pays off. I got a rough estimate, $4k for the month, this includes the per mile for maintenance.

    as far as taxes go, many people say leasing vs finance or owning gives you the same benefit.

    If you dont mind me asking, how much do u pay per month with per mile maintenance included.

    Can you elaborate more on the maintenance fund and breaking the contract, as you mentioned? Thanks for your reply
     
  5. Qbf594

    Qbf594 Road Train Member

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    I'm in a penske full service lease. I can't give you details on the financial aspects as I drive it but my boss leases it. This was a 2 year contract. I might have overheard 3k$ monthly but not sure.
    I can tell you the road service phone is often a long hold time. Like 30-60 minutes. The service locations are of varying quality but all are nice to work with. They are dedicated to getting you moving again....but my experience is there aren't extra sleeper trucks so I end up in a day cab and motels. They're fighting on covering our motel costs...
    They put all recap drive tires but push back that blowouts are driver negligence or error.
    But my ABS sensor malfunctioned Mon and I was towed loaded from Rawlins to SLC and repaired that night because the freightliner dealer wouldn't get it in till Wed. I was empty Tues morning 9am.
     
  6. hsingh_2

    hsingh_2 Light Load Member

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    Thanks for sharing.
    Yeah from what I’ve heard $3k to like $4k is the standard monthly.

    Im assuming this was a brand new truck right? Why would they put recaps on them?

    As far is road service goes, I think going with one of the bigger guys like Penske or even Ryder, is a better option because they have more options and more resources to get you moving. I think the same goes for Nationalease.

    do you know if there’s a down payment for it? If so, how much?
     
  7. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    all i can add to your question, is the company i retired from, leased thier trucks thru Penske, with the full maintenance.

    if a truck had to go back to say, the dealership, we got a free loaner until our truck was back. if the regular PM's ran over the time the garage had it, they would give us a free loaner as well. i'd surmise the "free loaners" were in some way included in the price of the lease, but what did we care? we had a job to do, and needed our trucks.
     
  8. hsingh_2

    hsingh_2 Light Load Member

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    Thanks for your reply!

    Yeah I think that will be my best option then. I know there are pros and cons to leasing vs financing/owning.

    The biggest pro for me is the maintenance that is covered on FM leases

    Another pro for me is the fact that we get new trucks every year or however the setup would work.

    Since it will not be a one truck operation, this is my best route. If it was a one truck op, I think financing would be better.
     
  9. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    well in my former situation, i worked dedicated accounts. the companies found it cheaper to lease, rather than buy, "just in case" the account did not renew, at renewal time, then what to do with all those trucks..??

    just turn them it, if the accounts fail to renew, and be done with them.
     
  10. wis bang

    wis bang Road Train Member

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    My company is a warehouse company that has trucks.

    When I started there, ten years ago, we had 8 tractors, all older than 2007, 2 fro '99 and 2000 and three tired box trucks.

    We convinced the owners to try Penske full service. We started with two trucks and gradually added 2 or 3 at a time.

    Unlike most companies, we don't go far but spend most of our time in central to north NJ and NYC, Long Island and the surrounding counties with a few short runs into PA.

    Takes us over two years to put 100,000 miles on a truck BUT they are not gentle miles.

    We goofed at first with the box trucks by leasing a few 'turnbacks' that ended up being garage queens but for only a little bit more we replaced them with three new Freightilners with custom ordered 102" wide boxes; problem solved.

    Full service means you don't pay out for maintenance and ;wear and tear' AND get a free rental to use while yours is in the shop. Anything we do outside of 'wear and tear' IS charged back and the rental isn't free. Penske uses a few body shops in our area, one always higher priced than the one they prefer so we end up using that shop to avoid any complications when turning the truck back. Breakdown, call the 800 number, easy peasy.

    We just replaced the first two [2014 Volvos] with 2021 Cascadias.

    We rely on outside maintenance vendors and have no shop of our own. A local fuel distributor fuels up three nights a week and maintains a DEF tote with a pump and Penske is less than 2 miles away. It all works for us.

    We get a brand new $139,000.00 tractor and they deduct around $1,600.00 a month which comes out to the cost of the tractor over the 7 years so, in our case, we only pay for maintenance and body repair we cause making the rest kinda free.

    Expensive, maybe but we have a fleet of fairly new tractors and trucks instead of the old crap we used to run. At the same time we have upgraded trailers and even applied large vinyl 'billboard' logos to some. Our stuff looks good and it is noticed.

    It works for us but you need to remember that we are working a tough market and are able to charge for it...you want a lift gate trailer in Brooklyn tomorrow? Sure but it is gonna cost you.

    We've lost a customer when corporate wanted one national carrier for all it's DC's. Ten month later we are back with an increase.

    One of the large 'ciber' retailers opened using a carrier from North Jersey and got less service than they wanted. After asking around the neighboring warehouses we got the call and charge more too. Throw in a dozen, mostly new, switchers with the same logos and we are definitely noticed.
     
    bzinger Thanks this.
  11. bzinger

    bzinger Road Train Member

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    Years ago I worked for a private fleet that had full service lease tractors from Rollins leasing Corp ( bought by penske in 2001 ) , our trucks had easy lives always being very light , running a 1700 mile radius of omaha and the same driver for the lease term because nobody quit .
    It didn't matter where I was or what time it was if there was a problem they were on it and as @wis bang said if they couldn't fix it fast we were in a rental even if it was from another leasing company.
    Best service was always the home branch in omaha or those close by , but if I ever had an issue with another branch which was rare all It took was a call to my home branch manager and things happened quik .
    It wasn't cheap tho and the lease payments on my 2000 fld condo were 1900 a month plus milage.
     
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