Who has completed a lease purchase and fully owns truck with title?

I have no interest in leasing from a company but i figured I would ask so other could see. Glad it's working for you.

 

I'm leasing a truck with about 20 months to go after which I have the choice to turn it in and walk away or find outside financing to purchase it or write a check and buy it right then. Problem I got now is miles are kinda down now after the honeymoon is over (about 4 months into lease-- took over a repo). I get the feeling they are sorta starving me into desperation to try to get me to take on a team mate or become a trainer.
I'm fixin to go down there and write em a big ole check. I like running for them, lots of pluses like vast terminal network, thousands of trailers and customers all around the country, pretty much all elogs and eobr so fly under DOT radar etc.

When/If I do this, count me in as completed the lease and fully owns the truck with title.

 

I've paid off two trucks. It wasn't easy but it got done. This truck will be paid off in 2.5 years, it'll be Lease Purchase Tractor #3.

Last one. (yeah, like we haven't ever heard THAT SAID before)

 

If you think they're starving you out to manipulate you into doing something against your will, why would you trust them enough to contract with them?

If you don't start out with, and maintain a good amount of cash onhand...at least $10K, preferably double that...they could starve or mismanage you into bankruptcy pretty #### fast. And you wouldn't be the first one it happened to. To me, that's a MAJOR breach of trust right there.

 

I'm sure it happens to a lot of lease operators like this, but no one can ever prove the company was 'starving' them out-- it just gets chalked up to slow freight cycles, breakdowns, excessive home times, poor business skills etc.

The lease operation is set up so that the driver gets paid close to the same as a company driver. Where the lease operator falls behind the company driver is paying for the maintenance and breakdowns. In my case, I took over a lease operator's truck that had been repoed because he couldn't afford to get it fixed. I spent a lot of time in shops and a lot of money (directly and indirectly through missed miles/loads due to shop time) and I be doggonned if I have an opportunity to buy the thing as opposed to continue leasing and the company can pull the rug out any time, cancelling my contract or whatever, I'd be out all that money invested in getting the truck up to par only to have the next guy who signs for it to reap the benefits of my hard work.

So, I did call the leasing company and ask them for a payoff quote, and an address where to send the check. I expect they will receive the check by tomorrow, and 5-7 business days after that the check will clear the banks and I will be the proud owner operator of a 2010 Kenworth T660. Add me to the ranks of one who completed their lease and owns their truck outright!

 

Did you lease your truck from a leasing company or a carrier? If you had the money to pay off the truck, why would you not pay for it up front? If you only paid on the truck for a year and the paid it off, I am not sure you could be classified as someone who fulfilled their lease. When I think about someone leasing a truck from a carrier, I think about someone who makes weekly payments for 3-5 years and then owns the truck.

 

Hey G/MAN, I stepped away for a couple days in case anyone else wanted to post, didn't want to dominate the thread or anything..

It was a classic lease from the carrier. They sat me down in the conference room, slapped a thick stack of papers in front of me and told me I had half an hour to sign everything; they were assembling a staff meeting in 30 minutes, please hurry. She left, I picked up the first page and noticed it was paperwork for a W900 and I was looking to sign for a T660. Anyway, I picked up my cell phone and she popped her head back in and the look on her face was like "oh hello no, you're not gonna be one of those difficult ones are you?".

Anyway the past 5 months have been one heck of a touch and go journey, truck broke down many times, small paychecks like $.43 cents, $2.02 bucks, one was $581 negative. Fought through all that crap because I was trying to cash out one of my retirement funds (after 2 years away from the primary industry [my old job] I could withdraw the funds) but there were many obstacles. 2.5 years later,(presently) finally got the funds, paid off all debts and there was enough left over to buy the truck outright from the leasing company. \\

I know it's a good solid truck, got it all fixed up from so much time in the shops. The leasing experience was invaluable to me as far as learning how to run the business insofar as being profitable with this carrier. There's so much more for me to learn but there is a value and great relief having that huge lease payment gone which in turn cancels out this carrier's contract terms for over mileage penalties and a deduction of pay for taking on students. Not to mention they could cancel a lease operator's contract at any moment, that lease operator could lose their truck and invested monies in maintenance and shops. I could take the truck to another carrier but will choose to stay on for a while longer and look for something local maybe a year from now so I can be there more to raise my son.

 

I am glad to hear that you were able to get your truck paid off. If the carrier can't start getting you more loads, have you considered going with a different otr carrier?

 

Things have been slow, I've taken a lot of time off etc, but yeah if they don't come through with more freight I have that option to move on. I think when I started I ran pretty hard then was shocked by the low paychecks. I guess in the back of my mind subconsciously I was thinking why work so hard for so little when I can barely work and still make little. I feel the urge to run hard again because now I will be rewarded financially for it.

 

Gonna have to agree with G/Man on this about the lease completion. I would say that in my opinion you didn't really successfully complete the lease you purchased it mid lease. Don't think you've gotten to experience what by the sounds of it is common lease practices by getting out early. This is a good thing for you from what I've read about the practices. If you feel they were trying to starve you out I would have jumped ship VERY quickly after the purchase of the truck.