Having your own authority, leasing on pros cons

In the simplest terms, under your own authority you can write off the greater value of either the interest paid or depreciation of your trucks. Leasing under another authority, you are able to write off the entire lease payment.

 

If your going to have drivers it's better to lease your trucks on with someone. You won't have to worry about them bringing your CSA score down when they f up and they check there driving record and even inspect the trucks. Trust me it's hard making payroll on drivers everyweek when your not sure when your next check is comming in
Don't forget about discounts you get on tires,fuel,and insurance being leased on. One thing I never took into consideration is a dispatcher/book keeper I was paying a lady $33,k a year for my trucks and the little profit I was making off each truck was going to her

 

Ya'll need to listen to this BAYOU guy!
I've had my own authority longer than some of ya have been alive, & I'm leased to a good company right now!
IF ya have your own dirrect custoners on both ends then running your own gig will work. IF yer relying on loadboards, it'l work if ya pay attention but it's high-maintenance on your part, with NO benefits over a good lease.

Any bigger company will be happy to "lease" your trucks, and SOME will even help ya put drivers in them. Will they keep them busy? They will if they can & they are typically better at it than a little guy. I save about $200 bucks a month on fuel under the cash price at the pump, liability/cargo insurance is paid by the company, several people are looking for me loads all the time? Yea...pretty good deal IMO. Run my own authority? Been there-done that..No thanks!

 

Don't take this as an insult, but get a little more experience before you try to answer someones question. Because your not even on the same page.

 

Yes, there are still a few who have their own authority and pull exclusively for another carrier, personaly I don't see any benefit in doing this. Often times they get the rate as someone who is leased to them, some carriers will pay an extra 5-10%, but with the cost of insurance I think it will be a wash, so really not worth it. If you want to run under your own authority then get direct contracts with shippers and run off of load boards.

 

It truly depends. My loads leaving Chicago I haul for the same people each week. Now coming home if I was under their authority it woudl cost me an extra 10% of the gross. Thats if I found the load. I have said this before and I will say it yet again. UNLESS you have someone at home willing to do billing, record keeping, Ifta keeping, fuel keeping ETC ETC. Then get on with a lease. However, if you have someone at home that doesn't mind an hour or two a night of work(Wife,Kid,parent) then you can't go wrong with your own authority. You can pull for most companies with your own authority. matter of fact they prefer it that way. Just have to remember YOU are responsible for everything. From getting paid to fixing the truck. Being leased on helps with the getting paid in a timely manner part.

 

IMO no! Unless you are willing to...carry the fuel bills each month yourself (6 grand per truck), liability/cargo insurance (600 bucks per month per truck) etc, do all the billing etc for each truck yourself (you know the drill),,,I fail to see a benefit to running yer own authority over a good lease for those trucks. Yea you can "factor" your bills but thats a looser. That alone negates any profit you may make on your own over a good lease.
This is about where I get my arse handed to me for saying that but its true IMO!
I see no finincial benefit for me doing my own thing.

For example...today I blew-off (gave back) a load paying the truck 2 bucks a mile from Cedar City, Ut going to Lubbock, Tx.
2 hours later phone rang with another internal agent offering me a load from Yuma to Sc. paying the truck 1.95 cpm. I don't have access to these loads without my lease. These are NOT posted on the interweb! Before I get delivered in SC, I'll have a reload and I won't do a thing in between but drive the truck! Yea brother,,,I like it!

*No I didn't drop the ball on the 1st agents load to Tx! She covered it in a moment. No harm/no foul*