Good Lease Purchase Companies?

First of all O/O still drive a truck just like company drivers. The only difference is that we are willing to take the risk and financial part of owning a truck. When all the numbers are crunched we don't make much more than a company driver. I agree with Joseph1135. Get a few years of experience and some money in savings.

 

Check with Santa he knows who has been good and who has been bad!

 

If the company you get freight from is also the company you got the truck from, don't do it.

 

I think you really have to look at the reasons why you are considering leasing over driving a company truck and saving to become an outright owner. It seems to me leasing from a company is just being a driver with payment coupons. All of the headaches with none of the rewards. Most if not all of these leases offer you no independence. I have really never understood the lease purchase options and why they would be attractive. Generally you are over paying for equipment, operate under the direction of a dispatcher and have nothing to show for it if you survive the lease term except for empty pockets and a worn out piece of equipment. Save your money, buy a good used piece of equipment, learn the mechanical side of the business and soak up as much knowledge as possible as a driver on freight lanes, commodities, seasonality and have a good plan in place. There is a reason why these lease deals have very high failure rates. They are not designed for the benefit of the driver but for the company doing the leasing

 

the best example I can give anyone thinking about doing a lease purchase is this: Farmer Brown has 1000 acres of land, with a 2 bedroom double wide on it. he says he will lease you the land and a double wide , front you money for seeds , fertilizer and fuel, when the crop comes in, you give him half of the revenue,( after expenses), and you keep the rest. well everything goes good at first, you get seeds in, fertilizer down,ect. but 2 weeks before you harvest your crops, a big storm comes in, and take out 500 acres, well after you sell the remaining 500 acres it is just enough money to pay Farmer Brown back for the seeds& fertilizer. you can't pay what you owe on the double wide, so now you are on the street broke! that my friends is what a lease purchase is :SHARECROPING!!

 

To be honest, there some good & lots of bad companies to do that for. I got lucky with a small company where I live that lease purchased a trk to me. Be sure to read contract & don't be afraid to pay a lawyer to review it. Percentage of load plus fuel is the only way to go IF you're going to get more than .93 cent per mile & fuel surcharge. Find out how much empty miles are usual, that's free to you.Make sure to set out what u will & won't do, why spend alot of time on turnpikes or in low paying freight areas! Know what you're paying for, total cost to buy truck, qualcom payments, fees, insurance, etc. I do know that Marten Transport in Mondovy WI has a pretty good program considering what they pay & what they pay for & what you'll pay for.

 

I agree, dont lease... u will starve... I bought myself a 2006 columbia for 25000 with less then 600000 on it... the first year I had 16000 in just repairs, not counting maintenance. U will have one oil change per month min. At about 280 dollars, take insurance, money for plates, plus money for emergencies out and not to mention tolls, if u want prepass and ur normal everyday bills and expenses and add it up, lets just say I was lucky to break even. Oh and dont forget about taxes, yes I said taxes. These are ur responsibility now. Not to mention ifta taxes and the highway use taxes that has to be renued yearly. So unless u can get a great personal loan or save the money urself and have a back up fund, id say stay away from being an owner op. just as in any business it takes a min of 2 to 3 years to make a profit. And unless u can bring home after fuel at least 2300 u will fail... just trying to help and save u from heartache of possible bankruptcy... lastly dont forget if u dont run, the company will still take their payment and expenses from your check.

 

I love the logic that the lease purchase haters always use.

"In the end, you'll have a worn out truck." Their solution? Save your money so you can go out and buy your own truck. Problem is, the truck you can afford is already "worn out" when you buy it! Besides, since when is a truck with 600K-700K considered "worn out?"

"You won't have true independence." Their solution? Remain a company driver...where you will have even LESS independence!

"There's no good lease purchase program out there." Like they have checked into every single one of them...

"You're nothing more than a glorified company driver." Their solution? Remain an un-glorified company driver.

"You won't make any more than a company driver will make." Their solution? Remain a company driver and make EXACTLY what a company driver makes.

"You're a company driver with truck payments and fuel costs." They fail to mention that you are paid owner/operator rates with which to pay these payments.

"You're better off buying your own." This one is true... assuming you have a pile of cash or are creditworthy enough to do it.

"You pay too much for the truck." It is true that you pay more for the truck. It's also true in many cases that you get into the truck with no money down and with no credit check. That added risk on the company isn't cheap, nor should it be.

"You can't take the truck to another company." This one is also true. But if you're starting with a company with plans to leave the company already in your mind, you aren't ready to be a lease operator OR an owner operator.

Lease purchase is definitely not the best way to own a truck. It is a lot like sharecropping. Most sharecroppers barely survived because they had very little business sense. Some sharecroppers eventually became land owners because they did have business sense and worked hard. The odds are against you in any business venture. The more you learn about trucking and business in general, and the harder you work, the better your odds no matter how you choose to get into the business.

I am happy with my lease purchase at American Central Transport. It works out very well for me. No, I'm not starving. Far from it.

 

Im glad to see that you are with a company that has a lease purchase that works for you, but if you look overall at most lease purchase plans I bet they have a less than 25% completion rate of people actually finishing their lease!

 

when I was in a driving school they advised to drive for a company for 2 years then consider being a O/O.mI am in my 2nd truck.first truck I financed through the bank.Payed it off early and did local.Hated local so I found another truck.this time bank wanted 20% down so I went with a independent leasing company called stark leasing.At the end of my lease I hand the man a dollar and I get the title.I am leased on with risinger bros and have met several drivers who have completed their lease and gotten newer trucks.they are not new trucks.The last ones I saw in the yard were used Penske trucks