Former May Drivers Lounge...

Second: Stay Company driver for a year, if at that point, trucking is still for you, then think about being an Owner/Op. Always try to buy a truck from the outside, a dealership or private seller. This way, if yer not happy with the company you are leased to, you can walk away .. with your truck. May used to have a Decent Lease/Purchase, that's how I got my first truck (I sold that truck and bought my long nose Pete from a dealer). May has changed their Lease/Purchase to the bad, STAY AWAY FROM IT. 7 Lease/Purchase guys turned in their trucks with hefty fees ($4,000) in the last 5 weeks. s far as Milage, that depends on how YOU drive the truck and how the ECM is powered. May powers the trucks down so there is no way to get good fuel milage. I run a long nose Pete, NOT aerodynamic and I average 7.01MPG that last 70,000 miles. But, my truck is NOT powered down, I run a Cummins ISX 400 with a 13 speed. And for those of you that think Owner/Ops don't make money, think again. The guy that owns the company makes more than the guy working for him.

 

I appreciate your info and cautions towards the lease option. I have heard more than once that I need to hold off at a minimums of 6mons and best case a year or better before leasing. The reason for getting one is I learned from my brother, 10yrs trucking, he leased a truck and made really and I mean really good money. 10k-15k in two weeks, 5k-7k of that was take home, after, trk pmt, ins, fuel, and so forth. He delivered cars up and down the i5 corridor out of Portland. But got out of it because he was always working and didn't like doing all the paperwork. He is more of a 9-5 guy. I had the opportunity to run with him for 6mos and I did all his books and paperwork while helping load and unload cars. The idea is to pay the truck off in two years, and get a cottrell 5309 hauler, and join the band wagon of hauling cars. I do understand the escrow, the maintenance, the 10k balloon pmt at the end. From what the lease op guy told me, they have like 4 different mechanics including peterbilt, cummins, and the may mechanics look at it. I do like the idea of having my own mech look at it and a lawyer look at the agreement. Payments are 0.93/mi to run, and 0.43/mi fuel surcharge. It all looks good on paper, take home being around 1100/week. But are those real numbers? Or just something pretty to show someone thinking of signing up. The fuel mileage of 1mpg is a huge difference to a paycheck over the course of 10k miles.

 

It all goes into future plans I have with car hauling. We are heading into the summer time, so I figured this would be the best when the loads get good.

 

I agree, buying a truck from a dealer is better and I could get straight into hauling cars. The companies I want to lease with require at lease two years OTR exp before they consider me. So paying for the truck with a lease agreement with a company would work out perfect with the required experience I need. That is a lot of guys to turn in there trucks. It would make sense for that to happen right now because it is the end of the bad winter season when it is slow. They burnt through there reserve over the winter time and could not make it a little bit longer to the good loads. I know this happens. But I also have a tree farm that I run during the winter season which is a great subsidiary and will get me through the winter time with no problem. I can pay for the truck and not run a single mile from November until January. I do love those long nose Pete's! I know owner ops do make good money, there is the reason to get on it. Also I do like the driving. Very enjoyable. Taking long drives in my pickup is all to common for me depending on if I can afford the fuel for the long trips or now lol.

 

Oh, does that mean I don't qualify....yet?

Question for FMD's: Is there any rule/law that's says a TC is required to grant you a 34 reset if you request it? Particularly if you've basically run out your 70 and you're running on the hours you get back?

 

Hmmm, thx Scooter. Food for tawt...
I was hoping to get a load out of Halsey since I was dropping there. No such luck...instead I get piddly run that I have to live unload at 0300 Mon. Bah. Wait a minute, it's 42000 and I've got a full tank of fuel. Yeah, I'm too heavy, that's the ticket, yeah...

 

#### you must be doing something wrong getting that mileage. I consistently average 7.68mpg and I have a2013 thats driving how I did since I started, not the way kermit wants you to.