Leasing truck through CRE to become o/o ?

They can ask what they want. It is all in what is in the contract. I would wager that most drivers who sign a lease never actually take the time to read every word or have a lawyer look it over before they sign it.

You don't have to buy a 2010 truck to be compliant in California, yet. They have a sliding scale, of sorts, where you can get an exemption for certain older models for a short time period. I believe this is their website. www.ssl.arb.ca.gov/truckstop.

 

It is my sincere hope for the OP that, in six months, we do not have him back here starting a thread called "CRE....You were right!".

 

I don't remember all the particulars of the exemption. You can check it out on their website. You still need to register your truck to receive the exemption and to avoid fines. Once your truck is registered, you can print off a certificate which states the number of trucks that you have file exemptions. The extentions vary according to when the engine was manufactured and the year of the truck. For anyone who has older trucks and is interested in running California, you need to check their website to make sure you are compliant. Fines are very stiff. I spoke with a friend of mine who said that they had set up on a rest area checking CARB.

 

This was the first bit of advice I was given if you wanted to own your own truck. Either buy the truck outright and be a O/O or be a company driver. Don't ever do the lease purchase option. That was told to me by various people when I first started investigating owning my own truck.

I have heard stories of companies basically not giving a lease purchase driver miles towards the end of the lease and they can't make the payments and then they lose the truck and a whole bunch of money. They get great miles in the beginning but as time goes on the miles they get become less and less and there is nothing you can do about it. It's not your truck so you can't just take it to some other company if they aren't giving you miles.

I also have heard that people as lease drivers actually make less than company drivers at some places when all the finances are calculated.

Come to think of it I don't think anybody has told me anything positive about being a lease purchase driver. Good luck in your decision.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...er-operator/201264-new-truck-no-cdl-help.html

 

Those are not your only options. There are several carriers that hire those with limited or no experience. US Xpress, CRST, Millis, Roehl, Swift, Stevens are a few of them. Some have hiring restrictions on where you live. There are also others that do lease purchase than CRE. There is nothing wrong with being a company driver. You can earn a very good living and not have the expense or responsibility of ownership. In the case of a lease purchase, you have all of the costs and still don't own the truck. You are allowing your wants to cloud your judgment. When you lease a truck from a carrier you are not an owner operator. You are a lease operator. Believe me, there is a difference. I know a guy who is doing a lease and he is about to turn in his truck. After expenses he has not had any paychecks on several occasions. He is just not getting the miles that he needs to pay the high costs of leasing the truck and still have something left over for him. His is a common story with these leases. He just did one fairly short run that didn't have a delivery date for 5 days. If he actually owned a truck and small payments, he could probably make it with his company. But, with the high costs of leasing, he is having a difficult time making it. This guy is a hard worker. He is just not getting the miles that he needs to make money. He pulls a reefer, so you would expect him to have plenty of freight and miles. That is not happening.

You need to sit down with a spreadsheet or pencil and paper and look at the numbers. This is the best way to make financial decisions. Most people over estimate revenue and under estimate costs. I do the opposite. I over estimate costs and under estimate revenue.

 

RUN AWAY and never look back..... I won't even look at their terminal as I drive by because I'm afraid I'll get a bill in the mail.