I know lease/fleece suck....SOOoooooo

I started with Swift and after 6 months of solo driving I went O/O. I bought my own (very) used truck. I had a terrible time finding financing for it. I have (and had) very good credit but the banks and private lenders (from the truck dealership) all turned me down, due to a lack of experience. I was finally able to get a local leasing company to do the financing.

The first step is to get a copy of the contract from the company that you are currently driving for and read it. The devil is in THOSE details. The contract, and not what some DM thinks, is where you will find how old of a truck they will allow you to bring into the fleet. (on a side note, a truck that is already in the fleet may be grandfathered, for example they may say that a truck has to be no older than 8 years to be brought into the fleet, but a 10 year old truck that is already in the fleet is ok).

Next check with the O/O department and get their approval to go O/O. They are going to look at your service and safety records before giving approval. It's almost like getting hired all over again. The finance company is going to want to have a statement from the company that you are going to drive for that they have approved you to be an O/O.

Next, really pencil thru all of the costs and expected mileage. See if one of the o/o's will let you look at a detailed settlement statement. I pay about $200 a week to cover costs like truck insurance, qual comm, etc that have to be paid before the truck rolls. That $200 does not cover health insurance or truck payment.

Would you be able to make ends meet if you were getting the same mileage that you are currently getting in a company truck? The grass is not a whole lot greener on the o/o side. Being an O/O has worked out for me..so far.

Hope that helps.

Ken

Ken

 

If you have a job right now, you would be wise to stay with it and be happy!

There is a reason that its a buyers market right now for trucks, and thats because every day there are Owner Operators either losing their trucks, or giving up before they lose every thing else....

Can you tell me what you have that so many others do not have which will make you succeed?

I am not trying to be mean here but you have to look at the current state of affairs and realize that its not the right time to start from scratch as an O/O...

And if the reason you want to go O/O right now is because you are not getting enough miles as a company driver you really need a wake up call!

Good Luck

 

An old, old saying, "You got to have money to make money." I don't think I would lease a truck period right now. People who have the cash to buy a truck outright might be in a better situation.

I mean, you are out there, you can see the same things I see. Make sure your strong desire to go O/O isn't affecting your ability to see what is happening on the roads.

I'd rather be O/O for almost exactly the same reasons you stated. I also know that I won't do a company lease. I dream of the 3rd-party lease as well. But, for me, not now, even if I could.

 

You can lease a truck from another company and sign it on as your own. The lease price is between $300-350 a week. They will give you a copy of the title with your name on it and them as lienholder. The thing that the majority of companies wont do is let YOU sign on a truck as an O/O with someone else's name on the title. No go. As long as your name is on the title, you can have anothers on as lienholder and they will go with that.

The advantage of going this way is, if anything happens with you and the company that you are driving for, and you decide to part ways, the truck goes with you. No busride for you. They cant monkey with your truck. The truck is set to your specs.

Theres no incentive to starve you out. There may not be a credit check for this kind of lease, but you will have a downpayment that ranges from $4000-10000.

 

If you dont have the cash for a hefty down payment and cash in the bank to operate on then your going to have problems right from the begining.

 

I haven't seen an answer to the OP's question yet. I am curious about this too.

Is there anyone who will take an O/O on with less than 1 year experience that is not a scam. No lease here. Talking about coming in with your own truck and leasing on with it.

 

Only a few desperate companies, the good ones can afford to be picky.

 

Or a really picky, hardnosed, hardrunning, one truck owner op with his own authority. Probably will be the toughest roadtest you will ever do, but he will shoot straight and theres no BS.

 

I guess im blessed with the co. im at because im gettin allthe miles i need. turne 3800 this week. Last week was short with 2800.