Anyone familiar with leases? ;)

It all depends on the company you go to.. Some will pay base plates some won't. There are advantages and disadvantages to both..

The advantages as you can see are no $$ out of your pocket right off the bat.. That's about the only advantage because it seems even though a company may provide base plates I've seen some still charge back quarterly fuel taxes to the truck..

The Disadvantages are many.. If they terminate your lease, they can demand that plate back right then and there leaving you stranded sorta..(You will have to get some sort of transport tag from your home state to drive it home. You will NOT be able to haul anything with a transport tag, just yourself.)

I get my plate through the carrier I'm leased to (They require me to run their plate, but I pay for it.) I get to run a IL base plate if I were to buy my own I would have to buy it in my home state (NC being my case, some states are real expensive and I do not know of a state that'll take payments. They want payment in full when you go to the registery.) I sure wouldn't want to have to base my truck out of my old state of NH it would cost me a fortune...

Some don't like to do this but in my case it is a condition in order to be leased on to this carrier, as a result they do not charge back any quarterly fuel taxes to me EVER no matter where I fuel! (So, I fuel wherever the fuel is cheapest at the pump.. VA, IN, OK, oh yes indian reservations too..) Don't worrey about a truck, the market is flooded with them right now. If you want a 2001 Pete I'll sell you mine right now lol..

 

I've been leased on to Mercer for a bit over 5 years now.. I have no complaints with them.. I'll fwd you a copy of their lease (minus my name and private info.) for you to review if your interested.. (Am a little busy right now will have to give me a few to scan it and get it posted to you..)

Yes, financing is the hardest part. Banks are tight and even if you have decent credit a lot of banks have simply gotten out of the truck financing business completely. Dealerships still know a few places to look if you work with them and beat the bushes enough maybe someone will help ya?

Don't just go to 1 dealer.. I went to several Pete dealers till I found one that did his homework and had a co. that would finance me... It took me a few months or non stop trying..

 

Gonzo what was the deal with Mercer a few years back... there was talk about them letting go of 200 o/o. was that because the o/o were doing something wrong or where they just down sizing?

 

Yup, Mercer let go quite a few drivers.. A lot of them had been ther a long time.. They thought they were exempt from everything and could "drive their own bus" so to speak.. Wrong.. If your truck needs maintaince, your logs are messed up and your constantly being told to correct them, getting shut down, tickets for dumb stuff like cut straps, improper securement (because you've "been doing it this way FOR YEARS without a problem..(sound familiar)".. You get the drift?? Anyhow they had a house clearing of some dead weight, and repeate offenders.

I wasn't aware youhad to have haz-mat?? I do but was told it was optional..

ANy company you go with will have min. requirements like 2 years OTR in the past 5, or somthing like that... I'm not a recruiter so I can't tell what their requirements are..

That Freight shaker sounds like a normal every day dime a dozen deal.. If you look in the truck paper I think you'll find 100's just like it.. I'd ignore the new seat and don't get fixiated on the tires.. where you want to concentrate is the motor and drivetrain.. Pull the ECM.. report.. How much idle time has it got.. was it a large company owned truck with 30,000 oil change2 & maybe a grease job at 15,000 IF it was lucky??? or a O/O owned it and had reasonable intervals, maintained it and realy took care of it?? Can you get all it's maintaince records?? how about warrenty? Has it had any major work, recalls, or accidents?

If the ECM says the idle time was say 90% and it has 450k on it I would say it has in real world #'s is almost 700k mi. in wear on the motor.. (all that idleing isn't exactly great for the motor.. It still puts wear and tear on it but does not show on odometer..)

Have a seperate mechanic look it over... Dyno it if you can.., before you buy.. Never go by "looks"..

 

That's not right.Most leases and this one in particular you agree in writing to give a 30 day notice to term the lease by either party.Dont know where some of you are getting the being standed idea.Second,I've never heard of a 15000 escrow even if u can get some ins to get it down to 1500.What is the ins for?But I would take legal counsel on any lease so everything is clear and out in the open.Remember it's a binding legal document for both parties to be held accountable.

 

Dr. Demented posted this in his Manning lease attatchment pdf.

I thought it was rather excessive... & full of fill in the blanks..