The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

I bet they do this because roehl makes more money this way.

 

In my case I would have still had the money in the bank, but if a driver doesn't think like a business man then I agree this would have been a killer. It does illustrate the need to keep plenty set aside since you never know when the rainy day will turn into a hurricane. Lots of chrome looks purty, but it does nothing for you when the ac goes out and it's 106 at 22:00.

As far as percentage pay, I would want to also be able to select my loads from multiple options instead of a take it or leave it system like you find in mileage based pay. If you go to percentage pay you have to completely change your thinking. There really isn't such a thing as deadhead anymore, you now take the total pay including fsc and divide that by the total miles it will take to do the load from your current location to the consignee. If that number is above your per mile break-even you make money and if not you don't. An illustration would be choosing a 500 mile load because it's only 50 miles away, choosing a 1200 mile load that's 200 miles away. Deadhead is no longer the issue, the issue is which load pays the most per total mile. Let's say the shorter load pays $480 plus fsc and the longer run pays $2000 plus fsc, which load are you going to take?

I am 22 months into a 42 month lease on my truck.

 

Thanks for all the info on here. One more question
How long of a lease does Roehl have you sign? and what are the consequences if you need/want to get out of it early?

 

Leases range from 3 1/2 to 4 years, mine is 3 1/2. There are a couple of drivers that used to be on here that opted out early so they would know better than I what happens. It's my understanding that you lose your security deposit which is equal to one month of payments. They will charge you for a recovery fee if you don't return the truck to Marshfield and I think the rate is $1.00 a mile. Finally they will charge you for any work that needs to be done both cosmetically and mechanically. Most of it is spelled out in the lease agreement and includes things like all guages are in working order, enough brake pad depth to last a year, no damage to the body inside or out beyond normal wear and tear, etc. Both Lastrebel and Roehl 929 felt that Roehl treated them fairly, but I don't want to put words in their mouths.

Something that no one talks much about when it comes to leasing equipment is that it preserves your cash. Especially during the first year you will usually have a lot of maintenance issues. Having the cash on hand to take care of these problems is not a bad idea, just understand what you are doing and make a rational thought out choice. The other part is make sure it makes sense. A 4 year lease on a truck with 600,000 miles on it is nuts. Somewhere around a million miles you will be looking at an inframe and that will set you back an easy 12 grand just about the time you are looking at another 12 grand to buyout the truck. You will also have higher maintenance cost on a higher mileage truck. On the other side I got my truck with 240,00 when I signed the lease which means I'll have a truck with about 650,000 miles at the end of the lease. You have to approach this with a cold, self-centered attitude. Your first responsibility isn't to your client whether it's Roehl, Landstar, or XYZ Logistics. Your first responsibility is to your business and its' financial health.

 

It appears the issue with the apu was overheating. I didn't realize the valves for the cab heater core also ran back to the apu. The other problem was that the cooling fan on the apu wasn't running, so a hundred bucks later and I think maybe I have my apu back. Now I just need to resolve the inverter problem and I'm good to go.

 

The drawback of the percentage plan at Roehl is the extras they won't pay. On mileage they reimburse all scales and all routed tolls on percentage your on your own and if I remember you can not have the prepass.
That is unless they changed it again, I had looked at going flatbed but was told I would Need to buy my own trailer.

 

Well I'm done turning my truck in Saturday in Gary, on my own dime no less they refuse to find me a load to get it there,I have allot problems going on at home with my kids being sick, my mom being in really bad shape, and losing my house in a fire all within the last 4 months and they said I wasn't put forth enough effort towards my business, so I terminated my lease, involuntary asked to be put on a regional schedule for a while but was denied that option, and was what I considered personally attacked by my dsr so I'm done with them, family will always come first no matter what, part that sucks the worst I was 7 months away from completing my lease live and learn is the lesson I learned, they are only out for themselves, few other things lining up but I will keep in touch every once in a while, take care my friends

 

take it easy.....good luck to you......

 

Good luck. For what it is worth. Since you were only 7 months away from final on your lease you might find if you want to continue as an O/O that a dealer might be willing to finance a truck. I have a friend who thought he would be unable to finance a truck thru a dealer. Since he had been in a company lease program and had shown good profit he was surprised to find that he was able to finance a truck outside of a company program. Worth looking into. Gives you a few new freedoms.

 

Well I now have Kristen full time and everything is "5th verse, same as the first." My daily paid average miles are 366 and I am driving so little I'm going out for 17 days without any worries about needing a reset. I'm also back to a dispatcher more worried about making the planners happy than her drivers. She is going to find out that loads are going to start getting turned down, like no more 250 mile loads coming out of the house after hometime. To say I'm angry is to put it mildly.

On another note, I was talking to one of the mechanics at Appleton and he said there are only about four Cascadia's in the fleet, the rest have been put on lease/purchase. The new DD15 trucks are such a bear to change fuel filters that they won't even allow the drivers to do it. The latest with mine is that the check engine light came on and it's throwing a code. Had them check it out at Appleton and it came back that the dpf is having issues including low fuel flow. The mechanic said it should be under warranty so when I get home I'll have Freightliner take a look.

Still another issue, but not truck related, my Blue Parrot quit working so I bought another. After I opened it and I was on the road it appears the Emporia Flying J took a defective unit as a return and put it back on the shelf. The thing won't even turn on. Plus my tablet has gotten to the point it won't even access my Kindle Books. I'm going home and scream. Then heads will begin to roll!