Warning...DO NOT lease with PRIME

There should be an epiphany here.... why do you think so many companies are developing lease programs? Because they WORK for the company and they're extremely profitable - it's not because the companies can donate millions to charity by helping drivers make tons of money. Heck, even PTL just opened up a lease program.

CRE, Prime, and others have grown their fleets at an amazing rate because these lease drivers are covering most of their costs... that a normal (non-lease) company would have to cover.

It's easy enough to add 50 more trucks when you KNOW your payment, insurance, maintenance and fuel will all be covered. These companies are self-insured, yet I paid $800 a month. If you DO wreck your truck, you pay a HUGE deductible out of your maintenance account and that usually covers the entire repair.

Some people are successful with these programs, for example, after completing a 3 year lease with CRE, you no longer pay the .14 cpm variable mileage fee... but by then, you've starved for 3 years to get to that point... doesn't exactly average out. Also, even without the .14 cpm, you're still on e-logs, doing 62 mph with cameras on your truck.

 

And?

The key to being successful is to operate the truck efficiently. Prime pays a percentage, fuel surcharge and accessorial payments. In other words you get a chunk of money to run the load. Knowing your costs is paramount - yet most lease operators don't even look at their settlements. A serious case of lead foot syndrome, coupled with no idea of how much it takes to operate your truck will lead you to bankruptcy fast.

That may be true at CRE. They handle that differently at Prime. BTW... it works much better if you don't wreck your truck. You can run up a fairly good bill at Prime from deductibles in the case of an accident. If a repair is part of what is considered "drive train," those repairs are covered under warranty.

Cameras eh? A good reason to stay away from CRE.

Starving at CRE? A dang good reason to not lease from CRE. Fortunately that's not been the case for me at Prime.

 

Although I'm watching this thread closely...

There's no reason for it to be closed, locked or deleted. PLEASE keep it that way

 

Ok... I won't resort to juvenile name-calling. How about a good ol' mud slingin' fest?

 

Lets see... six posts, member since - this month. How would you know any of this?

Unless you're a previously banned member posting under a different username. Or a current member posting under a second username.

I have a positive bank balance, my bills are paid, and I have cash in pocket. The truck doesn't sit much, and by my measure of "doing well" - I'm doing just that. I have no need to "prove" anything to you.

 

Good on you, sir. Don't take the troll bait.

 

OMG... just too funny!

However, since the thread is here...

Prime does have a very basic business class for lease operators called ACE-2. If you're leasing from Prime you should do yourself the favor of taking it... one day on Mondays or Saturdays at the Springfield terminal, and they do it in Pittston although I'm not sure of the schedule there. It is primarily a discussion on various aspects of the lease, but it also covers how to read and interpret one's settlement statements. If you're struggling, this is a good place to start to getting healthy. You have to know your numbers to be successful at this.

The biggest controllable cost on your settlement is fuel... everything else is pretty much peanuts. There are two ways to minimize it... buy cheap, and don't use much. I've been told the average fuel cost per mile (after deducting fuel surcharge and discounts) for lease operators at Prime is 24.9 cpm. (Editorial note... since that's an average, there's a bunch of schmucks doing a heckofa lot worse!)

I'm at 12.4 cpm since January.

Imagine what a 12.5 cpm raise will do for your bottom line...

 

Prime has a program where you only pay 60-70 cents a gallon for fuel?

 

It does depend on how much better than 6mpg you do. At 7mpg this week (based on last week's fleet average cost,) your cost was $0.539/gallon.

 

It was a funny, a HAA HA... a joke that is ~ Foghorn Leghorn


Besides, looks like I was spot on, the clown is a banned member.

Point being, leasing a truck is just plain stupid, and that includes at CRE.