New Truck Delivery Delays - Seeking to Temporarily Rent/Lease Truck

Rubber duck kw · Feb 3, 2022

STL-Dario said: ↑

Hello-

Can anyone tell me of a truck rental/leasing company that will lease to a new authority?
Note: I am not interested in a lease to purchase program - I do not want to pull loads for any one broker or company, but instead, I want to pull whatever load I choose.

Background:
After being a company driver (OTR and LTL), I’ve decided to go the OO route. My plan was to purchase a brand new truck and trailer (paying cash), but to my surprise, there is a serious truck and trailer shortage resulting in a 6-9 month delivery delay. My plan B is to rent or lease a truck until I can secure my own truck.

Ideal Situation:
I would like to find an outfit that rents or leases to newly established authorities who will rent/lease on a weekly or monthly basis. I would much prefer a “walk-away” agreement but have leaned that this will be unlikely.

As mentioned above, I have no interest in a lease to purchase agreement as I do not think this works for my planned business model. I simply want to rent/lease for an agreed upon period of time then return the unit.

Thanks in advance for answering my question. This forum is a great resource…
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Good luck finding a short term rental or lease truck. They'll be in as short supply as new trucks.

STL-Dario · Feb 3, 2022

RedForeman said: ↑

Good luck even finding a rental. You may be surprised to hear you aren't the first person to think of renting one when they can't find one to buy.

Even when there isn't a shortage, a new truck on a dealer lot is built to a big fleet spec and probably not ideal for most small or one truck outfits. The usual buyer is the otherwise regular big fleet that has an immediate need, and they don't care since they aren't the ones driving it. Same thing applies to rentals. The trucks are usually off lease big fleet trucks that have been run hard and put up wet. Less than ideal, and usually minimally maintained. They will also serve their regular customers before jumping thru flaming hoops to find a truck for some random guy off the street.

The first problem you may not be aware of is: you have to insure it. Someone like me with an existing policy emails his agent with a vin and value, and I'm supplying a certificate in minutes. You will have to start a new policy, which is usually a week or longer process. I'm not even sure how that would work with a rental being the one and only first unit you insure. You better be calling insurance agents to line that up before you find a rental truck.

ETA: This may be your deal breaker. If you're considering starting out with a rental truck as an independent, then you can't get your authority active until you have insurance. You can't have insurance until you have something to insure. A chicken/egg problem. If you're leasing on with a carrier, that's a little different but also somewhat complicated. Your carrier will have to establish the rental in most cases. This could go either way. A larger carrier may already have rental accounts established and really grease the wheels on the process. Or, it could be someone who's never rented before and you're back to square one, only depending on someone else to be involved with you doing all the legwork.

To get a rental lined up all you can do is call around and ask. Renting a semi normally involves opening a credit line with the dealer, and they all have different qualification requirements. That can take days, and is best done when you don't need one right away. The account is needed due to them needing to invoice you periodically to keep up with mileage, and also settle up fuel taxes after you return it. Sometimes that can be a month later. That's where you run into a time in business issue. It's not like car rentals where they'll work with anyone that walks in with a credit card and ID. Check with dealers, they all have in house rental departments. If your user name is an indication you're in St. Louis, that's MHC territory and they rent trucks. I've dealt with several and MHC has been the best to work with, even if they sometimes offer a less ideal truck. If you were ready to buy with cash, you probably have a large cash deposit to offer, which will be favorable. Most of the smaller rentals will require it, or at least a card with enough overhead to run a deposit and charge a weekly invoice.

You may find this surprising, but I disagree with some others that have suggested rehabbing a pre-emissions truck to achieve this. In my opinion, that only works when you have sufficient mechanical knowledge to know what you're paying for, then are either doing it yourself, or have already established a working relationship with a trusted service dealer. A project like this is a great opportunity for an unscrupulous dealer to separate you from a lot of money, and most of them are unscrupulous. They'll see you coming a mile away. If you're not that guy, or have already got a trusted service shop lined up via someone else you trust with experience, don't do it.

I'd recommend getting a new truck order in and just wait it out. Meanwhile, let it be known to a short list of new truck salesmen you're a cash buyer and keep at least weekly contact with them to see if they have potential incoming trades that you can jump on. If they call, be prepared to immediately post a cash deposit, sight unseen, or you'll miss it. On the used side, I wouldn't look at anything older than a 2017 unless it was pre-2003. If the used one comes through, you won't have any problem dropping it on the market when the new one comes in, and probably get all your cash out of it, or more.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and helpful reply.

Ridgeline · Feb 3, 2022

STL-Dario said: ↑

Hello-

Can anyone tell me of a truck rental/leasing company that will lease to a new authority?
Note: I am not interested in a lease to purchase program - I do not want to pull loads for any one broker or company, but instead, I want to pull whatever load I choose.

Background:
After being a company driver (OTR and LTL), I’ve decided to go the OO route. My plan was to purchase a brand new truck and trailer (paying cash), but to my surprise, there is a serious truck and trailer shortage resulting in a 6-9 month delivery delay. My plan B is to rent or lease a truck until I can secure my own truck.

Ideal Situation:
I would like to find an outfit that rents or leases to newly established authorities who will rent/lease on a weekly or monthly basis. I would much prefer a “walk-away” agreement but have leaned that this will be unlikely.

As mentioned above, I have no interest in a lease to purchase agreement as I do not think this works for my planned business model. I simply want to rent/lease for an agreed upon period of time then return the unit.

Thanks in advance for answering my question. This forum is a great resource…
Click to expand...

Did you actually talk to a dealer to see what they have?

vinnie9piece · Feb 5, 2022

You asked about a Rental....I have Ryder and let me tell you it's been a Total Nightmare I've had 4 trucks in a month and a half all no good breaking down and the subunits they give me are no good...we have a ...shortage on parts...shortage on quality mechanics and ppl who just dont give a ####....Good Luck Driver.

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