I’m being ripped off and next steps

What the owner and you can and cannot do are decided by the agreement you and him signed. I understand those agreements are long and not fun to read but for all you know you agreed to give him your organs if he asks. What does your agreement say? Read especially what it says about the length of the contract and what is required to end it.

 

The lease agreement you signed in 2022, was it a lease purchase agreement? In that agreement, there should have been something about you paying the truck, maintenance, any fees using any of their equipment (ELOGS, fuel cards, tablets/qualcomm, prepass/ezpass…etc). How much did all of this cost on average each week?

When did you pay off the truck and received the title? You should have signed a new operating contract at this time…do you know why?

Have you kept track of the deductions?

 

EZ pass, unlike I pass can go negative, so why should you get violations?

Never mind. I saw you explained it

 

I don’t understand what the op wants.

he is in an illegal business relationship with the authority, he is an IC by both New Jersey law and fiscal regulations, he should leave asap regardless and sign on with anyone he can as a stop gap or better sell the truck and return back to being an actual employee,

two pages is not a contract, you don’t have agreements as spelled out by case law and fmcsa regs. We all know that.

 

Didn't NJ pass something similar to CA AB5 ?

 

This is why I say you don't have the knowledge, skills, or temperament to run your own business. You were a driver during the 2008-2010 recession. You were a driver during the 2018 eld capacity crunch that saw rates spike, which resulted in the "trucking bloodbath" of 2019. By early 2022 it was clear from posts on TTR that the covid boom was petering out. You chose that moment to toss your hat in the ring. So why did you decide to pull the trigger? Especially when you thought you were buying the truck at a premium? By the way, how did the truck go from a 'good investment' to a POS in 3 years?

The dangers of L/P and 'buying' a truck from your employer are well documented, as are the risks of leasing equipment you own with a micro carrier. Any O/O who doesn't have a comprehensive, crystal clear contract with their carrier is asking for trouble.

If the money were still flowing, would you be asking these questions? When things are good, people have a tendency not to sweat the details. When things get tighter, less gets overlooked. The owner is less willing to eat your costs and you are less willing to accept those charges. Do you have solid records of exactly what you were paid, what was deducted, etc? If you don't, why not? And if you don't have the records, "getting litigous" is an exercise in futility. No decent lawyer will take your case on contingency, so you'd be spending your own money - likely over $40K. If you win $35k, you'll actually lose $5,000. And that's if you can collect. Getting judgements is the easy part, getting the cash is much harder. At best he'll declare bankruptcy and you'll end up with whatever is left after the secured creditors get paid. And you'll be paying a lawyer for that too. More likely he'll fold up the business or otherwise transfer all the assets out and you'll end up with nothing. Really less than nothing once you figure the legal costs.

Saying "you're not ready/cut out to be an O/O" isn't an insult. It's just a statement of fact.

 

Ouch I had no idea they do it by time as well. I have stayed for the night on one but never a 34 reset.