Lease Purchase Programs Are Not Bad! (Let Me Explain)

He is with Interstate. They are percentage and are not forced dispatch. If you want to succeed, you learn the rates and lanes (he even mentioned this), the company assists with all the insurance, tags and permits when you start, then you keep it up, and other things as well. It does good for the person to research who they are going to lease onto before then make that commitment. I know because I looked into them and was about the do this very thing, but I have not decided on whether I will or if I will remain a company driver. If it were just me, I would do it, but my wife seems to have concerns. Until she is onboard, I will wait.

 

I'll put it this way, I've questioned everything when I was a company driver otr. I ran my company truck with l/p numbers to compare apples to apples and see if it was worth it. With the company I was with it wasn't, so I didn't do it. But before I even thought about it I knew a very thorough knowledge of how all the expenses worked from maintenance, fuel and all that. I knew how the entire lease worked, prior to just "jumping in to test the waters".
Why would anyone jump in to something that they know nothing about?
Any entrepreneur out there knows you have to have a thorough understanding of the business your about to venture into and not do it blindly.
Yes, I will call someone with 3 yrs a rookie still. I had my cdl since I was 20 12 yrs ago, but let it go in the Army. Came out and went OTR and am local now. Hell, I'm still a rookie....

My point is all these drivers want to go running out here to "catch the american dream" and use a walk away lease as a "test theory" is not smart.

If your jumping into it with a wealth of knowledge, know how it's going to run BEFORE you pull the trigger, than by all means it's a good deal to jump into if yourequired willing to accept it.

But to tell people it's good to test out.... don't think it's smart. Than these people come on here, get false hope with 3 months otr jump into it because they seen "1 guys success story" and lose their ### for not making anything 2 weeks or 3 weeks in a row and turn the truck in.

Guess what, now they're out previous weeks waiting on truck, orientation and all, (yeah Okay they delay payments a bit to draw you in), than the few weeks lost because they "tested it out" and now the wait period to do another companies orientation and first check.

 

People need to look at it like a true business, even as a lease purchade.
1) have capital!!!!!!
2) have a thorough understanding if not a very legnthy business plan
3) know at least more than a company driver of the o/o market to at least keep head above water...

Now, my way of thinking was taken out of context, yeah a walk away lease is an okay way to test o/o, I am not knocking that. But seeing how many new drivers scroll through here, is it a good thing to say a lease purchase program is good??? From everyone I talked too, I'd probably say only 2/20 ever pre-planned, business wise, before jumping into it.

 

Recruiting.....

 

If it is a true walk away, hand in the keys with no consequences, I see no problem with that.

However, even with the best walk away lease options, there are stipulations in place. Most contracts have a 45 day waiting period in play to pay out any balances owed. This gives the company in control of the lease the opportunity to reconcile any deficits owed by the leaser.

These companies can and usually do find ways NOT to fund 100% of the balance, including any monies that have been held out during the lease for maintenance, pro-rates on plates, etc.

In other words, the leaser thinks he has $5,000 coming to him and ends up with $1,000 or less. I've seen it happen.

 

Something tells me you are approaching from a different understanding of what he was trying to say. I don't think he was trying to say, "jump in without a clue as to what you are doing." I think he was trying to say, "after you have done your homework, its a good way to see if you are cut out for being an O/O." Not everyone is, even with the knowledge. Some folks get into it and do great, but hate doing it and are stuck. Some people want to do well, but are better company drivers. He could have been more clear, but you also could not make assumptions as to his intent. Maybe ask a few questions first.