Reasons Not to Lease?

So?

The carriers are supposed to be in this to loose money? It's business. They offer you an opportunity to move freight using a leased asset, and it's up to you to ensure that you can meet your end of the contract at a profit. If you destroy the asset, then yeah - you deserve what's coming. So it get's back to, are you a truck driver AND a businessman? If the answer to either is "no" you shouldn't have stepped up.

 

Buying a truck and then leasing it to a carrier can be a viable business opportunity, as opposed to having to get your own authority right away and find your own freight. But lease purchase programs, which is what the OP is asking about, are a rip-off. If you can not afford to buy your own truck with your own down payment, and your own credit rating, you are not yet ready to be in business. If there are good legit lease purchase programs out there, where the % of successful lease completions is at least equal to the % of successful traditional owner-operators, I'd sure like to know where they are.

 

My company, Holland Enterprises, will let you lease a truck after 6 months of employment. We have a bunch of O/O, all with paid off leases and are doing well. We will be doing this soon too. They pay 75% of the load, and we get good loads. It's not an O/O company, but those who tried, succeeded. Two of our drivers just paid off their leases, and immediately traded in their company truck for a brand new Coronado and a Pete.

 

Same here at my carrier.

There are just as many who fail at truck ownership as those who do the lease or lease/purchase route. If you're not a businessman, you aren't going to know how to operate a business... no matter how excellent a driver you are. The difference is the owner has no one to blame but himself... or maybe the "evil brokers." The lease guy can always avoid a little critical self-evaluation by putting his failure on the "evil carrier."

 

Nothing wrong with automatic I cross Donner pass 12 times a month, if you get a healthy truck it'll play up hills although sliding the tandems and 5th wheel when loaded puts it into fault mode. Besides that they're great, 2 if they were paper logs you would make more money, I have a feeling company driver is a better choice

 

It's always a better choice for a new driver... you have to get a couple of years experience MINIMUM before even thinking about moving up. Elogs... I certainly haven't been making less money since I was moved from paper to electronic, but it's going to depend on the company and the dispatch an load planners. It just doesn't work well if the office folks don't have a clue about the difference.

 

Paper logs, more money. Not true if you know what you're doing. I use to think the same way until I had them. If the company and you know how to plan it works. I make more on elogs than I did at my last job on paper.

 

as a transam lease operator and a recruiter
i tell everyone to go be a company driver first
once you are comfortable with the company and your skill levels in trucking
then think about leasing and how it would work for you
as a new driver without buisness skills or truck driving experience
it is a long fall that happens quickly

personally i owned my own buisness many years before i tried it

your also never any better then you are dispatched
so they are truly a partner with you

you know the old saying
"the only ship that doesn't float is a partnership"

 

If you're going to lease, go into it knowing that it is geared more to the company that you lease from. I went into my lease with an open mind, I understood who it would benefit more in the beginning. If you keep your head in the game you can be successful. One of the things that I didn't take into consideration was leasing a truck from the company that provides your freight. That's gonna be a no-no lol. I didn't realize it, that's what I did and they have me by the dark and curlies. But I just keep plugging away and plugging away. I managed to bank some good money and have had my fair share of bad weeks. We all have them whether we are company, lease or 100% independent. I was lucky enough to hire a guy who is awesome and we're out here busting our rears but we make $$$. Bottom line for me, I think I would have rather leased from a third party or bought the truck outright if my credit score was a little better. You leads the truck from where you get your freight like me, all you are is a glorified company driver that gets paid a tad more after you pay for fuel. Good luck pal. Take some time to think about options first. Have your head in the game. Its a big risk

 

Good lord dont get in an automatic. The two worst things a new trucker can do is work for a company with elogs or work for a company with automatics. When you decide to leave that company and you dont have a clue how to log... and worse cant shift .. what are you going to do? Ive had to help werner drivers with years of experience fix their logs. And i met two pam drivers who couldnt leave because they literally had no clue how to shift.

There are imho four reasons no newbie should lease:
1. You dont evne know if you'll make it/hate it/love it/quit whatever. Id say 10% of newbies make it more than 6 months. You lose 25% each step along the path from the start of school to being 6 months in.
2. Leasing is a ######. To do well at trucking you need to be efficient. To be efficient you need experience. Thats why a guy with 5 years is making .46 a mile and a newbie is making .26 a mile.
3. You need to know how to run a business. L/p and O/o's are businesspeople more than truckers. The successful ones know what the hell theyre doing.
4. There arent many good l/p's out there. Im hoping to l/p after Years of experience and im nervous as crap and have limited my choices to 2 companies so far and even those im worried about (gman said one wasnt bad... that's worth more than gold to me). You just dont know what youre doing yet or if you'll survive.

Get a year in. At least 6 months. I have a friend who's a bedbugger lease driver. Got in WAY over his head (this dude is one of the most ballsy and skilled DRIVERS ive ever seen) and ###### himself.. not the company ####### him.. he ###### himself. And dont lease to become an o/o. Thats not the way to do it. Youre gonna be making 50k+ a year. Save 10% of it and a year from now put down 5k on any kind of truck you want.