Landstar Questions

Do not lease purchase a truck. Do not work for a company that hires company drivers or leases' trucks. Make a down payment and finance the truck through your bank or a truck dealer. Used trucks are best, and should be no more than 4 years old and no more than 500,000 mi. Then go to work for a company like Landstar, Mercer etc. These companies do not lease purchase. You must have your own truck and you will make money if you are a worker and not a cry baby.

 

If you don't have any more bills than you listed, you should be saving at least $200-300/week. I would wait until I could either pay cash or find my own financing if you want to buy a truck. The better carriers do not do lease purchase. When you lease a truck from ANY carrier, you will pay too much for the truck. And the added charges will kill your bottom line. You can find a good truck for less than $20,000. You are not far from having that much put back. If you don't have confidence that you can make it as an owner operator, then don't go that route. You can earn a very good living as a company driver. Many earn over $50,000/year once they get a few years experience. If you do want to eventually buy your own truck then start doing some research. Talk with current owner operators at truck stops and shippers. Find out how they are doing. Landstar will not hold your hand. With them, it is more like a partnership than as someone who leased to a mileage carrier. Some do well and others fail with the Landstar system. You will need to be highly self motivated to succeed under their system. If you are concerned about what your parents think of you spending your own money to start a business, then you are not yet ready to make the jump. This is not a game. It is a business. People succeed and fail on a daily basis. It helps to have a good nest egg prior to venturing out on your own. If you have good credit you should be able to get into a truck with 10-20% down. Take your time and you should be able to get a good deal. You may even want to talk with your bank and feel them out. Not all banks loan money on class 8 trucks. There are lenders who specialize in class 8 financing. It is difficult to get your first truck financed. Once you have a couple of years or so experience it becomes somewhat easier, but it is likely still going to be a challenge. When you find a truck you want to buy, find a good mechanic or shop and take it to them and get it checked. Have them run a dyno and do an oil analysis. Between the visual inspection, test drive, dyno and oil analysis, you should find quickly if the truck is a good value. Too many drivers rush into buying a truck. If you take your time you are much more likely to find a good buy. You don't need to spend $50-100,000 to get a good truck. As I stated earlier, you can find good trucks for under $20,000, especially with today's market.

Some things lenders consider when making a decision about class 8 financing are: Current credit history, time in the industry, liquidity (cash on hand), class 8 credit history and whether you have a contract to lease to a carrier. A tentative approval with a carrier can suffice for most lenders. Your bank will be your best source for financing. It is much easier to get financing from someone with whom you have had positive experience or history.

 

I'd have to agree with most that the lease/purchase deal isnt good, but if you're smart about it, you can make it work. In order to make it work at Swift you MUST do so as a mentor. By my estimate, you can NET $5000 to $7000 per month. Providing you run 16000 to 17000 miles per month.
You could mentor for a few years and save a significant amount of cash, enough to get the ball rolling nicely. Talk with other mentors and see how they're making out. Ask ALOT of questions!!!


If all you have is $13000 in savings for the truck downpayment, consider that you'll need money for the downpayment on the truck, money for the catastrophic emergency breakdown, and money to keep the personal bills paid.

 

No metter if you own $1 in bills or $10,000 its calling BUSINESS.
And if you move loads for nothing,than your BUSINESS is NOTHING.
You have to keep the rates as fair is possible,because if your OWN BUSINESS need future funds,you don't want to be a bank slave for ever,my opinion.
So in conclusion:Use you age and bills for your advantage,not towards LANDSTAR AGENTS posting here and for BANK ADVANTAGE.I will call it: Your age advantage against anything its comming towards you.
Excuse my English,but I hope you got my point.

 

UUMMM, I don't understand a thing you said... is it just me?

I agree with what's been said here. Never lease to a company that has a lease purchase program or company trucks. If you lease to a 100% owner operator company you have a shot at making above average wages for your efforts. Leasing to anyone else is at best an excersize in indentured servitude. This is because you couldn't afford to be in business to start with so you took the bait and let them snare you into pulling their trailers, the tags, insurance and advances at a cost of all the available profit most of the time. Makes me think I should start my own trucking company...

 

Start your own and make some poor fool pay to much for a bottom end truck and work for just enough to keep him working for you..... Just saying that's what these lease op companies do. Just look at the numbers and my educated guess would be most of those companies make more then half there money off of these guys leasing a truck from them since they don't have the credit to buy a truck. I use to work for one of these companies but I was a company driver. I think it was 840 a week for a freightliner...... Enough said

 

FOOK ME! 97 pages since 2007?
WOW.
CAN someone who knows this thread post up some cliff notes? PLEASE.
I am in thr process of either leasing with them or just using the load board thru them. SO Id love to hear cliff notes.

 

Landstar is a good company to be with. They are on the cutting edge of technology, they have 1400 agents searching for freight and their reputation for safety will help you at the scale house and save you time on the road. The LCCAP program they have saves you money at the pump, when purchasing tires and in a number of other points of purchase. That being said, they are as big or as small as you want them to be. The agents, for the most part, are small companies just like you. Certainly Landstar has National contracts, but they also have small, service oriented customers that will pay the extra revenue to have things done properly and on time. Sometimes the braver man is the one that asks for more and not the one that cuts the rates to get the business. Now, I will tell you that there are a number of agents that are only extensions of 3PLs. They don't have customer relationships and get most of their freight from undesirable vendors. You will see them out in the system and you will learn who to work with and who to stay away from. The other issue is you MUST be safe. You must know how to maintain your equipment and keep up on your paperwork. They do not tolerate frequent violators. So if you aren't afraid of technology and are understanding of how to run a business, Landstar is a good place to be.

 

I have leased to them and brokered loads through them under my own authority. I made money with them doing both. If you lease to them you will need to allow some time to learn their system. Some have good paying freight, others don't. Sweetwater pretty much summed up some of the benefits of leasing to them. You need to allow about 5-6 months to get a good feel of their system. You will need to be a self starter and highly motivated to do well with them. They don't have dispatchers so it will be up to you to make it or break it. The key will be to find agents who can keep you running with decent paying freight.

If you run your own authority you can broker freight through them. Again, there is good and cheap freight with them. It is pretty much the same as when you lease to them. You can deal with the same agents. They have a program similar to the LCAAP program when you lease to them. The advantage you have when you run your authority is that you can haul freight for other brokers.

About the only difference is that when you lease to Landstar they will keep track of your fuel taxes and all the safety related issues. When you run your authority and broker loads through them that is all on you. They have a quick pay program which will keep your cash flow up if you need your money. You can have your money within a couple of days from the time they receive your paperwork for a small discount on the bills.

 

Sounds like a well written brochure/ad to me.