Give me your thoughts on my idea. Adding a L/P driver.

DO NOT EVEN TRY IT.

If you want to know why, read a bunch of the horror stories about new truck owners who had drivers trash their trucks and nothing can be done about it.

 

I dont get how you don't even care about the drivers opinion. What would you want to drive for in thier position?

 

If its a friend? May be a good way to ruin a friendship?

 

Who's responsible for repairs? When the driver breaks down, and he will new truck or not, how are you getting your payment from them? Who's dispatching this driver and making sure he's making the money he needs to? Too many variables to you actually not getting screwed over. Commendable idea but real world its just not going to work.

 

The ATA just released the annual driver turnover rate for large truckload carriers. It was 98%.

So if you started with 100 drivers on January 1, you would only have 2 of those drivers still working for you on December 31.

If we take that probability (2%) and multiply times three years (2% x 2% x 2%) you see the probability of the average driver staying with you for three years to be 0.00001 or one in a hundred thousand. Which happens to be the same odds of you being dealt a blackjack in four consecutive hands.

 

Whatever you decide make sure you have an attorney help you draw up a contract that will protect your interests. Make sure you research your prospective drivers background well. It still can amaze me how many drivers just don't care about their rig...they seem to have no pride in their ride. I'm just a company driver and seem to care more about a truck I don't even own than so many drivers do. Just make sure you're approaching this as a business decision, not a personal one.

 

My first thought....

Why would a driver that is willing to do this, not simply buy a truck, either new or used dealership, and lease with Landstar themself?

About the only reason I can see it is they have bad credit. What makes you think said driver with a history of not paying bills will actually simply not walk away when times get a little rough?

 

I may have messed a mention. But have you considered that said driver may not stay on top of regular maintenance? There are so many things an inexperienced O/O overlooks in the beginning. And even if it’s caught in say the second year. The damage is done.

Maintenance would be a very large concern for me. Especially if it came back to me.