to lease and not to lease...

While I would never try to stop anyone from chasing their particular dream--There is no way you will make me believe that leasing a truck from a company is a good idea--now understand I have never has a job--I am the son of a son of a farmer/trucker--So have always owned my own and run under our (family authority) wait Im the patriarch now--so under my authority LOL
But anyway--You will never make me buy that you are making more money doing this--I'll bet your next PM service--that you make less than a company driver doing the same things--you may gross more--but not take home any--
I know I hear the nonsense all the time but every time someone will come clean and be rational with me--we do the math-vs company driver at same company--and it is never more than a penny or two a mile in one direction or another--
So if owning a truck is really what you want to do--KEPP YOUR DAY JOB!--cut your living expenses to the bone--put away every xtra penny you can--for lets say the same 3-5 year period your lease would be--keep investing that money every 3 months and adding to it--then after that length of time--you will have a solid down payment on a truck of your own--then go anywhere you want with it!
You may want to stay right there--or go elsewhere or start your own business but all these options will be pen to you and you won't be driving what someone else wants you to drive--or paying for things you may not want or need--and you just might find you are making a pretty decent living as a company driver--and don't want the headache
just my$.02

 

ac120 you have it right. My mentor made about the same as a company driver, and didn't have to mentor. If he didn't train as a L/O..............well you know!

 

No. If--IF!--his gross was $242,000 then that is what it was. "$242,000 to the truck" is another way of saying the same thing. It is what he took in, not what he kept. Maybe that is what he grossed, maybe it isn't (maybe he's blowing smoke). Numbers like that are thrown at people to get them to lease, because they're bigger, more attractive numbers. Which sounds better? "Our mentors earn $242,000 a year!" or "You'll keep 16.5 cents a mile if you lease with us."?

If you want to talk about running a business, you have to talk about how much you took in. No business keeps what it brings in. What you keep--your bottom line--is what it's all about.It forces you to focus on your costs. Say you run 100,000 miles in a year. Following the numbers, you could count on keeping 16.5% of what you take in, or an after-tax net of 16.5 cents for every dollar of revenue, or $16,500 on April 16th. That could be a good planning tool: "How many miles do I have to run to keep $X?" When your miles all pay the same, just about all you can do is run as many as you can. (Ha! Or as many as you can stand!) Of course, you can only run miles if your carrier has freight (that's another topic).

BTW, I wouldn't count on 4500 miles a week solo. And a payment of $1,000 a week is twice what it should max out at.

Again, "$242,000 to the truck, $16,500 to me." It's complicated, but it's also simple.

 

lease/purchase thru a company... they take the tax credits, they get the depreciation deductions. they over charge you for expenses so they make a profit off expenses, they dont normally give you access to the billed rate and fuel surcharge. you have to keep your own books and pay all the taxes...

anything else you want to know ?

 

Due respect, most of those trucks at Lone Mountain, Arrow, and the multitude of used truck dealers across the country are right close to or past their original warranty expiration. A tractor with 500k miles, Swift would want to see paperwork for an inframe job on it-- talking about thousands of dollars of money the driver would have to come up with to bring the truck up to Swift's par. It's a huge gamble.

As far as JCT, I have never run reefers, they are always heavy, it's a different animal compared to dry freight wherein oftentimes the loads are not maxed out on weight so therefore the L/O has a chance to keep more dollars in the pocket.

What is the obsession with worrying about whose truck it is? What is the difference between the traditional O/O who finances his truck through a bank and the L/O who completes his lease and finances his truck through a bank? Neither of these situations does the driver own the truck yet, if you want to get into semantics. For the lease operator, he is keeping his day job! He's putting up incredible sacrifice in huge weekly payments for a term of 2 to 4 years for the chance to purchase or finance the truck afterward. Things vastly improve at that time monetarily for the L/O. If a trainer, no longer gives up $0.05 a mile for students on the truck, no longer gives up $0.09 a mile when he goes over 11,000 miles in a month. Truck payments are significantly lower or eliminated altogether if they saved enough to pay off the residual.

Tell the honest truth, you and the anti lease deal naysayers are ticked off at how easy it is for a driver to go from company driver in a short period of time to a full blown owner operator when the traditional model and route to the same thing involved perhaps half a career's time for you guys to achieve. Let it go bro. I'm offering you a hug.

 

I just want to add that when you talk to people who are leasing trucks (and you should), keep your thinking cap on. Those who have not completed a lease are not the best sources of information because they don't know what happens at the end of their lease, and that will be determined not by rumor or hope, but by the wording in the lease agreement and by the carrier, which always bats last. "Success" is not getting into a lease, it is getting out with your hiney intact.

 

Scottied67 --

Let's stay off the personal stuff, okay? Please. No one's worried or obsessed, or ticked off. We're just pitching ideas back and forth here. You've got a dream. I'd like to see you achieve it.

 

Edward,

Luv the hat,

and the photo !!!!!

Good Luck,

leasing is doable, but not for everyone.

Again, Good Luck !!

 

I do not know where anyone is thinking I am chastising them! I was offering my opinion on what I believe to be a pretty good alternative to leasing and still being able at some point to start your own business--it is as I stated IMHO--In My Humble Opinion--I just put it out there--and as I always post I wish everyone the best in which ever way they choose to go--I AM ALL FOR THE AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS MAN/WOMAN--we are the backbone of this nation and live by the principals that founded this great land!
And as my still favorite bumper sticker says--"If you are going to gripe about farmers--DON'T DO IT WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL!"
Be safe out there!
just my$.02

 

Grossed nearly $250K with a take home of $40K!!!!!!!!