Prime Inc driver thread

Hey iron pony you seem to be a good source for info on the lease side, so whats the cap on the mileage then? is it monthly, weekly or just when the lease term is up? if youre a trainer then you will get hammered for double the miles by that account huh?

what bookeeping and tax service do you use? I was told prime has a in-house service but i have my old accountant from when i was independent right here in vegas also.

ya I have known owner ops that have no sense of how to operate as a independent, there are owner ops and company drivers that are either one or the other, once I became an owner op I never wanted anything else since. 2008 killed me and I took my hits, but i want back in to the owner op gig, its all i want if im gonna be a trucker.

as far as this company driver giving me info he just said get the cheapest payment you can and hope for the best haha, all the lease ops I have talked to tho seem to really like it at prime so Im not all bent because of this one guy.

as far as a truck a cascadia will work just fine,this is my last week at my old job and prime starts feb 27th, CANT WAIT!!!

 

There's no "cap" on mileage - its just where the cpm rate on how many miles you run kicks in. Again, its just a way of compensating the leasing company for excess wear and tear. Stay below that point, and the mileage rate doesn't get bumped up. If I recall correctly (and I should look this up on my contract) some of that mileage escrow becomes part of your lease-completion bonus.

The only thing that total miles vs time affects is when the tractor might be called in. A really hard-charging team can put enough miles on a tractor to have one called back in after two-ish years (on a three year standard lease.) You don't loose anything on it, its just you get the opportunity to sign for a new truck sooner.

The one that leases space from Prime at the Springfield terminal. They call themselves Abacus CPA now. They do an adequate job - most of their clients tend to be in trucking. There's no business association with Prime outside of the office space they lease in the terminal. Its handy, and they are familiar with the way Prime does their settlements. When you sign on, do opt for the "accounting service" that Prime offers - it's just some re-arranging of numbers into a simple P/L format - but it saves you bunches of time. I do a quick check of my reimbursements, then head for the P/L section and pull about 10 numbers out of there for my own spreadsheet. Otherwise I could see myself spending a couple of hours a week dealing with the same ####e.

The lease gig has been good to me, so I don't have any complaints about that. Owning would certainly cut costs, and improve what I sneak over the bottom line. OTOH, running a tractor with the EGR/SCR emissions stuff for two or three years before buying it (out of the lease) certainly removes some of the doubt about whether you're getting one that is going to run OK over time.

They do have machines that are turned-in early for one reason or another. For example, a fella I know who was in flatbed had to turn his 2nd lease tractor in early after a year-or-so. Chemotherapy - sucks. He took good care of his truck, so someone got the opportunity to sign a two-year lease on that truck - with the commeasurate drop in lease payments. They do exist - but get snapped up in a hurry. When I signed my lease there were 5 of them available that day - with guys all over them within minutes of leaving the leasing office.

Good luck man! Feel free to ask any other questions you have... would have answered sooner, but I just spent a month in the ol' TTR penalty box - LOL!

 

so IP did u form an LLC for PRIME or just a sole proprietor? Ben the recruiter told me either or.... I figure I will come in slow and form my LLC after the fact within a couple of months of starting.

I figure if a new tractor is the way to go and all the mildly used ones have roaches all over them from the get go then I will make the best of it and do what I gotta do.

I will look into the in house accounting service, thanks for the advice.

as far as anything else goes, Im just trying to anticipate any pitfalls ahead of time so I dont get too shocked, Im leaving a pretty decent job for this so just trying to nail as many things down ahead of time that I can think of.

also, do the trucks come with the APU on it already? a fridge? or can I have them installed by PRIME? Im sure at a cost but in the long run they pay off twice over.

thanks for the advice, Ill buy ya a coffee when we cross paths one day.

 

No - I don't see any benefit to it. The IRS does not recognize any difference between a sole proprietor and a single-tax-payer LLC. Nor is there any legal benefit to it - if you get sued over something it won't shield your personal assets. So why bother? The CPA who will speak to you during orientation will admit that the real benefit is that it gets people to start thinking about separating their personal finances from their business finances, aka the truck.

I'd get a separate bank account and handle everything business/truck related through that - direct deposit of your settlement check to it. IMO, the best approach is to have it at the same bank your personal account is at so you can do online transfers without any fuss or bank intervention - paying yourself. Everything for yourself/family comes out of that account. That way you keep control of the business, grocery money is not commingled with truck money, and the IRS cannot dispute the separation of interests.

They do a fantastic job of detailing the interiors of the used machines. You'd think you were looking at a used truck on a Freightliner or Peterbilt lot.

The new trucks do not. Once you get your tractor assignment and lease signed, the next stop is the APU office in the tractor shop. Its on the far side of the shop. Get an appointment immediately, as there is always a waiting list. It may be awhile, so if you're going to have to idle have the tractor shop turn off the 5-minute shutdown timer. Its also worth calling Pittston to see if they can install an APU for you if you have a long wait in Springfield. I haven't checked recently, but they were doing that a year ago.

BTW, make sure you note everything that needs fixing before you head out, and get the tractor shop to take care of it. The more you can find now, the better a machine you'll have later. I'd double check all repairs after it comes out - they do miss things sometimes.

Looking forward to it!

 

ORD, r u w/ PRIME or SWIFT?

 

Im with Prime

 

thanks for all the good advice IP, you are right as far as not filing an LLC, as a PRIME l/o they carry all the insurance and whatnot so theres no need to upgrade.

What would anybody take from me in a lawsuit anyways? my chrome plated CB mic? my stripper mudflaps? My fake gold plated championship belt buckle for 100 visits to the ##### house in Wells, Nv.?
along with my $60,000 in debt?

I think Im safe haha

 

by the way that was w-h-o-r-e house ###################

 

CAN U MAKE MONEY AS A CO DRIVER/O/OP,

 

If you run right you can make money...