The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

All of this is true. The only thing I would challenge is the making much more than company drivers. That is going to depend heavily on how much your lease payments are. An older truck with no warranty left is going to have much lower payments then a newer truck. You could easily end up making less as a lease operator. You can make it up by staying out longer, though. The more you can stay out, the more you'll make. It's rather expensive to go home. Once you're done with the payments, of course, you'll make much more.... until it's time to replace the truck.

 

Once I finally start working again (So far only Maverick called me back once I finish my last drill in the guard next weekend it looks like I'll be going with them) I'm planning on owning my own truck one day. If I do that I'm just going to save up the money and buy a decent starter truck that runs good and is easy to fix. I worked on trucks when I was in active duty. I'm no master ASE certified mech, but I know enough to make basic repairs. All my bills are paid, I have no long term debt and no kids. I paid off my $27,000 POV in two years. If I can do that I can save up money for about 4 years which should be enough to buy a decent starter truck and gain even more experience and do research into the O/O thing. This won't get rid of all the bills in O/O but that's a huge chunk of it besides just fuel. So many people want everything RIGHT NOW. And that's when all the problems start. People don't know how to save their money anymore. I'm not hating on leasing and it can be okay for some people, but I don't see myself paying all the bills for something I don't own.

 

I don't get this idea of replacing a truck. Every successful o/o I have ever talked to has the same attitude. When it's time to rebuild, you rebuild. It doesn't matter whether it's an engine, tranny, rearends. The longer you go without payments, the more money you make. Personally, I'm planning on keeping the Blue Lemon until it has at least 2 million miles. The secret to making money as an o/o is to not have any truck payments.

 

Rebuilding and avoiding payments works for a time, but eventually technology and government regulations catch up with you, as well as the fact that things just wear out. You have to face the fact that repairing will become impractical. You WILL have to replace the truck at some point and you have to plan ahead for that eventuality. But generally, I agree. Keep it running and put off those payments as long as possible.

 

As far as government regulation, I only know of California that does that to truckers. There are a lot of old restored trucks running the roads. There are drivers running old mechanical trucks, so technology doesn't force you to get a new truck. It is true that you may reach a point of no return, but overall in theory there is no reason a truck can't stay on the road for a good 20+ years. If a new truck is $150,000 compare that to a truck that is $12,000, but needs an inframe. An inframe is between $10,000 and $15,000, so taking the high end you have a truck with a rebuild for $27,000 that should be good for at least 5 years. You will always have other issues come up that aren't covered on a warranty. My truck was under warranty and I still spent $10,000 in a single year on repairs and maintenance. One more thing to consider, most of my engine issues have actually been the emission control system and not the engine itself.

 

True about older trucks. Saw a old KW cabover today pulling an oversize load. A huge tank with flat ends. I'm guessing the fuel mileage on that was horrible.

 

I've seen a lot of working show trucks that have zero aerodynamics. If you have the money to put into those trucks you probably don't care anyway. All of the new standards really affect large companies more than small ones. Large companies buy their trucks new and then get rid of them around 5 years. Small companies tend to keep trucks longer and buy them after the large companies get rid of them. Take a look at Truck Paper, there are tons of trucks with about 550,000-650,000 miles for around $25k to $35k. That is a truck that you can pay off in about a year and a half, do a rebuild and keep for another 5-6 years. If you doubt what I am saying, take a look at the tractors pulling Landstar and Risinger Bros trailers. Both of those companies are 100% owner operator companies and they don't do lease purchase.

 

Lol, I was willing to bet money on dirksteels post getting deleted when I read it earlier.

 

Dang, what did I miss?

 

Not too much really, just went off about older trucks new regs, and current president and EPA.