looking to lease purchase

Ok Let me be captain obvious here. Im sorry if I insult or offend anyone here as It truely isnt my intention.
If you wanna be an O/O but you have to turn to one of these companies in order for that to happen, then you shouldnt be an owner operator.
If you dont have cash to put down to buy a truck from a dealer this could mean a few things but lets look at the obvious again. You are a company driver that either cant save money and have no savings or your making huge cash as a company driver but have a lot of over head at home that eats away those huge checks! In this case you should never ever think about being a O/O because your just adding debt and another huge obligation on an already struggling family! You would only make it worse should those wheels stop turning for lets even say a family vacation. Ok so your single and no family but just cant save money cuz you like the Ponies or the craps table. Here again you should never be an O/O beacause you are not good with the financials and one breakdown will send you to the Fed BK court. You have got to have a sound mind for business and be a savor if you wanna be an O/O.
Lets think credit. I know I know. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. I have been there! I have had my times I couldnt finance a cup of coffee. But the truth is "most" people have bad credit because we are not all that responsible with our finance's. We put ourselves in that position. We buy boats, new cars, load up our credit cards, hopeing and praying we dont lose our job or get sick and BAM outta the blue there we are! Fact is 99% of the time bad credit is bad planning!
Ok Gator so when is a good time to buy a truck? Great question Im glad you asked!! You have been out here atleast a few years and know in your heart and mind that you will be out here in another 10 baring any seriouse injury or health concerns. Thats the first step! You have been out here and know in your mind that you are doing a good job for your current company knowing that someday that company will be yours. When you have saved at least 20% of a down payment. And heres where it varies. Are you looking at a 30k truck or a 130k truck? either way when you have that 20%. With pretty good credit you can get away with about 10%down but still your gonna want that other 10% of the cash for emergency or tires or whatever could come up during that first 6 months. When your credit is cleared or clean then you know that you have done a pretty good job at staying ontop of your bills and paying creditors. And this should be the case if you have that bank roll saved up. Then I say to you go to a "dealer" and buy that truck.
I know you ask me why was you gonna do a company lease there Gator? Heres why I was gonna, or atleast thought of it. Im divorced have a nice but small home with a managable payment. i dont live beyond my means and over the past couple years have saved a few bucks and have what I call an emergency account setup. Instead of taking 15k out and draining that savings I could do a no money down lease. And even with a slow few weeks could still make some bills. When I heard 2200 miles a week I knew it wouldnt take long to drain that savings! So I opted for a company seat.
If you have some cash saved up, and have pretty good credit and wanna make a go at the O/O thing there are alot of good trucks out there that will cost you a lot less then 2000k per month to own. I checked arrow truck sales and they have some really nice stuff in the low 40s. I mean nice! Take a 40k truck with your DP your gonna be around 1000 a month on a truck payment! thats not real scary right? Anyway me... I desided given the current economy Ill take another company seat and if I can get atleast 2000kmiles perweek untill this storm blows over...Ill be as happy as a Gator rolling in the saw grass in the Florida everglades!!

Gator

 

You hit the nail on the head when you said a lot of people's bad credit came form bad planning. I stand guilty as charged on that count. I'm not going to blame a divorce, unemployment or a spendaholic ex, (I was too).

I'm here to learn all I can and see if I can make ANY kind of a living out of trucking. One of my trainers is leasing a new Columbia and the other drives for an o/o, so I'm seeing the whole spectrum. I'll definitely do the co driver thang for a long time to come if this bad economy will allow me.

 

Your other alternative is buy your own truck and hopefully you can complete the payments. If you lease thru a company like JCT or PRIME, atleast you can walk a way!!! Otherwise, your stuck with those weekly payments. Drive Safe

 

I have an 05 T600 with the auto trans, nice 86" sleeper, an APU (Frigette), and have added a sink with running water,small countertop with frig and microwave built into the cabinet. Truck has only 344,000 miles on it. I'm coming off the road and considering putting a driver in it and lease on with a Landstar etc. or if someone can find their own freight, they can run it under my authority but I'm not into micromanaging it. I'd consider a lease to buy set-up as well. How does this sound ?? Newby's and those with bad records need not reply.

 

I have an 05 T600 with the auto trans, nice 86" sleeper, an APU (Frigette), and have added a sink with running water,small countertop with frig and microwave built into the cabinet. Truck has only 344,000 miles on it. I'm coming off the road and considering putting a driver in it and lease on with a Landstar etc. or if someone can find their own freight, they can run it under my authority but I'm not into micromanaging it. I'd consider a lease to buy set-up as well. How does this sound ?? Newby's and those with bad records need not reply.

Seriously, you'd be better off just selling the truck......

 

I tried JCT lease around 03 and found it to be unaffordable. They had a 3-yr age of truck policy and "heavily encouraged" those who had a 3-yr old lease to trade in on new truck and new lease.
Mr. Christner makes as much money leasing as he does hauling freight.
The interest rate started at 25% and drops 1% for each $1000 put down up front. The only way to make good money, get reasonable home time, and keep up with all expenses is to pay at LEAST $20,000 down....at that point, you may as well buy your own. THEN sign on with JCT. You will then be your own boss, and call your own shots within their system.
Just a note: JCT has a truck numbering system that works like this:
1st lessee of a new JCT truck will have a number such as L4567. If the 1st driver quits and a 2nd lessee is assigned to that truck, the number becomes L4567A. The 12th lessee of that truck would have truck number L4567K.
I have actually seen a truck number with the suffix "M", meaning JCT has written 13 leases on the same truck.
Lots of money is made off drivers in these programs.