ATS Lease Purchase

Say Hello to my friend Mike Stringer at Truck Power his office is at the Freightliner Dealer. Good guy.

 

Is ATS flatbed only?

 

so tell us about it,how is it going? share some numbers on the flatbed
lease

 

I’m 9 months into my 2nd 1 year lease with ATS. 2018 was great. Made a nice nest egg. It was a 2014 Pete on my first lease. It took all my maintenance fund when I turned it in and put me 2k negative on my current lease maintenance fund I’m in a 2020 Pete now and my fund is almost even again. No issues with this truck. So it will even out after 2 years.

I have all my reserve fund just over 5k. And still adding 75 a week And with my 4K completion bonus I’ll be ahead without any doubt when I’m done with this lease. the first truck had major issues in the last month. It was ragged when I got it and I ran it like a dog. I lost 4K in maintenance due to not caring. My fault. But all is good.

I still put money in savings every month I’m making money off of this deal easily. But I do stay out a month at a time. Sometimes 2 then a week off. It’s tough if you don’t run hard on this type of program. The pay is just above a good company driver doing the same thing. It can be double, but realistically it’s just above. And for some the slightly above pay is worth it.

In 2018 I put 20k in savings in 6 months. The rates were awesome for awhile. But it’s back down to earth now. It’s still profitable, but it’s not easy. Gotta be smart and be willing to go places you wouldn’t otherwise want to. They have some really good direct customers and contracts. Some really good loads here and there. Their oversized classification is stupid in my opinion. Class 4-1. Doing so many class 4 to get to class 3 and so on. They have some good O/D loads, but sometimes really cheap ones with the “but it helps you get up in class”. F that. I’m not doing a 12` wide 300 miles for 1.25 a mile that could spread over 24 hours. And that’s why I’m class 3. When a good one comes up I’ll do it. So I pass on many.

I’m averaging $1.80 to the truck right now for 2019 It’s doable to make it.

I would not recommend anyone without experience. Vast experience in flatbed doing it. One really needs to know what they are doing. Some of these loads are not easy. We don’t do the standard flatbed loads. We get some strange ones. A lot of equipment and crane moves. Most of the places I go to are small shippers and I’m the only truck there. I don’t miss those big yards with 10 trucks fighting to get a load of lumber off for sure

I’m sure there are other flatbed companies that have similar programs, but ATS is above them considering the company size. Apples to apples that is. I’m sure there are small companies with a small amount of trucks that are better, but they don’t have the resources that ATS has

 

Ats doesnt have a 1 year lease purchase.

 

ATS One-Year Lease Purchase Flatbed Trucking Jobs | Drive4ATS

But they are advertising this....

 

It's more of a one year walk away lease. Basically rent the truck for a year to see if you can make it as an owner operator with the high costs.

Friend of mine is doing it. So far, not bad. But the ability to walk back into a company driver position is a stress reliever, for sure.