Is this really legal?

There's a company out there that charges a small flat lease rate $120 bucks a week. Meaning if you park the truck for a week you only go into the hole next week by $120 bucks, well plus insurance deductions etc. The main bulk of your lease truck payment at this company is paid through a mileage deduction, say $0.20-$0.25 a mile.

Don't get me wrong it is still a hamster wheel lease but at least you have half a chance at succeeding with minimal business skills.

 

You should have never leased,you don't have the business aptitude

 

....and you know this how?

 

I don't think the OP's failure is because of lack of "business aptitude." Rather these programs are designed to increase the company's profit and push all the expenses and liability on the driver. All while depriving him of employee status by classifying him as an "independent contractor." Remember they (the company) control virtually everything, from loads, to miles, truck repairs, etc. Even if he works on percentage the company negotiates the rates and the lease driver takes what they give him.

 

Not trying to be nasty but I have agree with the few comments here on business aptitude.
and I quote ....

???
I'm sorry, did I read that correctly? While hope is a wonderful thing, it's not much of a plan.

You have to crunch some numbers here.

What is your weekly/monthly operating costs?
How much do you need live on?
How much extra do you need to at least start building a break down account? (assuming you have none)
What does all of that break down to per mile that you can A) legally run B) They can give you on at least an average monthly basis?

Once you have X amount cost per mile figured out, you have to get them to agree to it in writing. If you can great! If not, it's time to walk away.

 

Heard that. I know of only one Prime driver had actually paid off his lease IN FULL( he actually showed me the title to his truck in hand VIN numbers matching,watermark government seal and all) and bought the truck. And this guy actually did his homework and looked at his operating costs(fuel,insurance registration and maintenance,etc.) and saved money from every load he did( and he ran his truck long and hard). Made his own food(saved money),didn't waste fuel(again,saved money) and kept and eye on his finances. Prime wanted him to sign and do another lease but he told them to pound sand and he's run owner/ operator ever since. First he did when he got the title to the truck was take it to the Freightliner dealership and had the truck dialed up from 62 mph! Lol

 

Agreed. I was hoping laying that out would show just how steep because if you can add all that up and make a lease purchase program work? You got a good (rare) deal.

 

What I will say is this... While there are many companies out here that do these lease programs that are highway robbery scams there are a few that are not bad... One of the biggest problems is one these drivers don't do their homework and do their research on these companies and 2 None of these people that get into these lease programs have no business being in business because they don't have the business acumen they have no idea how to run a business that's why they fail so miserably

 

Your response to my question is answered in the next couple posts by others,also there are several things he said that indicated he had no idea what he was doing in the first place,If you can't even take out a legal pad and write down your numbers before signing a lease,and ask the questions that need to be asked,then you have failed from the start.I have leased for several years,never drew a negative settlement, because I know what I need to do before I got into it.I knew my break even point and bottom line,I think part of the problem is who he is leased to, they do a lot of chicken plants and I will bet he spends hours upon hours at Tyson being uncompensated all while being on elogs,also he has fixed pay periods and fixed weekly expenses that this sitting cuts into and he is rolling on week of expenses into the next because he didn't make payroll cutoff,just an observation